I Don't Do Too Well On My Own
by SuperSillyStories
Summary: Logan's been separated from his sister for nearly twenty years. A tragic event makes the two reunite. Will he be able to save her from herself or will she just spiral out of control? SORRY I'M TERRIBLE AT SUMMARIES
1. Devastating News

**(I NEED TO STOP GETTING STORY IDEAS SOMEBODY SLAP ME! Oh please review [im shameless clearly] Minnesota**

It was a late night at the fire house. The boys of the late shift were trying to keep busy and entertained at the late hour. Currently James had turned on the stereo and leaned against the wall laughing hysterically as he watched his friend Logan Mitchell slide down the pole from the top floor and land perfectly before shaking his hips. Originally he was going to pretend to be a stripper but he was laughing so hard because he felt ridiculous that he just bent over laughing and couldn't. His friend Carlos Garcia threw fake monopoly money at him and called him a dirty slut.

"You're a horrible stripper." James laughed lowering the music.

"Dude I'm not a stripper!"

"Well what a waste of money!" Carlos pretended to whine picking up the monopoly money. Before Logan could laugh and make a comment Kendall was walking over holding the phone.

"Dude it's your mom and she sounds upset." Logan quickly walked over and grabbed the phone from Kendall before walking away to talk to her.

"Yeah mom? What's the matter is everything okay?"

"I was talking to Daniel today." Her mom sniffled. Daniel Mitchell, Logan's father. Well, the man that gave him life. Logan hadn't seen him since he was eight years old and he was fine with that. His dad wasn't the nicest guy in the world, in fact according to what his mom would tell him he seemed to be a lazy cheating asshole. The two parents split years ago in an ugly divorce, so Logan and his mom ended up leaving to Minnesota.

"So ? what did he say?"

"He said Coraline tried to kill herself." Logan's chest tightened and he sighed closing his eyes hearing his mother sob. That ugly divorce battle didn't end there, there was also a war involving the children where the custody battle was almost toxic. By the time they moved away Logan was eight and Coraline was six. She didn't know what she wanted at that age, but Logan knew he was a momma's boy then and he wanted to go with her. Coraline the precious little girl told child services it didn't matter because she loved both parents. Daniel however, didn't have the same feelings towards his children. Logan was a boy and he wanted a son, not a daughter. So to spite Joanna who wanted to keep both children, Daniel took Coraline away from her and denied them visitation rights.

The family was split apart and the two siblings that were peas in a pod were permanently separated. When she turned eighteen however, she made an effort to contact her mother. She was offered the opportunity to live there, but she declined by saying she was staying in Michigan for college. Joanna would call occasionally and try to better know her daughter whose life she completely missed but she was often distant and seemed like she didn't care. Logan even tried to talk to her, but after an awkward silence on the phone the two never tried it again.

"How?" Logan sighed staring at the floor and resting one hand on his wrist.

"Overdose on Ativan." She breathed and sniffled. "I called her and Daniel answered her phone and told me. Apparently she did it after work." Joanna was quite devastated. That was her little baby girl that tried to kill herself and even though she hadn't seen her in so many years, she still felt the pain. Even separated from her daughter she knew something was wrong, something was going to happen. She knew it in the pit of her stomach and it was just a matter of playing the waiting game.

"Is she awake?"

"No…not yet."

"I'll come over okay? You shouldn't be alone."

"Thank you." She hung up and Logan took a deep breath with his eyes closed. He put the phone down and marched past the guys grabbing his jacket. "I have to go to my mom's I'll talk to you guys tomorrow."

"Everything okay Logan? What happened?" Logan shook his head and stopped walking. His shoulders sunk and he stared at the ceiling. "Sister tried to kill herself, mom is freaking out." Mouths agape the boys stared at him and walked over to hug him or pat his shoulder, offering their condolences for his estranged sister. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Take your time dude…" Kendall said squeezing his shoulder. Logan nodded and quickly went home to tend to his crying mother. Logan sat on her sofa holding her as she cried and tried to think of what they could do. "Clearly she can't stay there!" She sobbed wiping her eyes with a tissue. "We have to do something Logan! Maybe she'll stay here I'll convince her."

"Mom you know you can't do that you're already taking care of grandma, you don't need another person here." Logan sighed rubbing her back. "If she's willing to she can stay with me, she'll stay in my place."

"You would do that Logan?" Joanna said staring up at her son, and he quickly nodded. "She's my baby sister, yes I would." The baby sister Logan once loved so dearly in his youth. The little girl he'd cry over because he had no one to play with when they moved. The little girl that once followed him everywhere he went and mimicked him. Hell, even trying to dress like him because she loved him so much. His house was a decent size. A second bedroom that he used as storage would work fine to accommodate her.

"You're such a good boy Logan." She sniffled and kissed his cheek a thousand times before calling her ex-husband once again to find out if she was awake. Upon hearing this she demanded to talk to her but he said no and continued to hang up the phone on her. Logan eventually took the phone from his mother and called back demanding of his father to let his mother talk to Coraline.

"Listen Logan you can't talk to her right now she's not in the right mind set."

"Clearly she hasn't been in the right mind set for a long time so maybe you should just say fuck it and give her the phone back." He growled. "She's not a child anymore Daniel so give up the phone."

"Look I can't okay?! Her doctors are doing some evaluation or something on her she can't talk."

"Then we'll keep calling until she's not busy." Logan hung up the phone and sighed, putting a caring arm back around his mom who held her face in her hands. Eventually his mom told him not to push it, and they'd wait until the morning. So Logan called in the next day and said he wouldn't make it to work. He stayed over at his mother's house and the two waited until it was what they thought the perfect time to call her.

"Hi Joanna." Coraline spoke quietly, almost as though she was ashamed of herself. The phone was on speaker so Logan was able to hear the emotion behind his baby sister's voice.

"Hi baby girl." Joann said softly, not letting it show that it hurt she wasn't being called mom. "I heard what happened, how are you feeling?" She was quiet for a moment and they could hear her fumbling in the background hearing the bed squeak and machines going off in her room.

"Alive." She replied in a dark, almost regretful tone. Joanna's jaw clench and Logan leaned over and squeezed his mom's hand.

"Coraline I don't know why you did it or what's going on in your life but we want you to come live with us in Minnesota, well, you would stay with your brother Logan at his house."

"Does Logan know? Why would I do that? Why….are you offering?"

"Because you're my little girl and I know I wasn't round and I know I wasn't there but I'm reaching out now and honestly you need it." Again there was silence.

"Does Logan know?"

"Yeah I do." Logan said. "I offered. You should come stay."

"I don't know if I want to." Before his mother could answer her back Logan took it upon himself to do so.

"You don't have an excuse anymore. You're not in college, you're in a hospital for killing yourself. Quit your job pack your stuff, you're coming to stay with me so someone who cares can look after you."

"…Thank you." She mumbled quietly before hanging up the phone. Logan sighed and glanced at his mom who was grinning ear to ear. "Why are you smiling so much?"

"That was a yes in Coraline language!" She grinned. "We need to plan Logan. The sooner the better we'll clear out that awful storage room you have and paint it a nice bright color."

"….We don't even know what color she likes."

"How about pink?"

"I don't know if she'll like pink. I don't even want pink in my house. Why not white?"

"Oh god no it'll look like a psych ward." Joanna shook her head. "Red. A nice bright fire engine red. I'll pick out the color and you and your little friends can paint it while I organize her flight and talk to her about the move." Joanna clasped his hands smiling through tears. "I'm going to have both my children back for the first time in years."


	2. Welcome Home

**(Thank you for the reviews I hope you guys enjoy it Carlos'sCupcaks and annabellex2, my inspiration was 7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen) from my favorite band Fall Out Boy. I mention them a lot somehow in my stories I always sneak them in but they're just such a good band and get me through some of the toughest days.)**

While Logan awaited the arrival of his sister there was a lot of preparation going on before she came. Joanna was not lying when she said she was going to have Logan and his firemen do all the work around his house. First of all when she visited and saw his place was a mess she went off the wall cleaning it before the boys went into that spare bedroom to clean it out and move his junk. Once that was done she put down two buckets of fire red paint for them. "Make it look nice boys this is going to be my little girls room and if it looks like crap I will not be making dinner for you four!"

"Dude your mom has turned into a dictator…" Carlos whispered when she was out the room. Kendall heard this and snorted with a laugh as he popped open the paint cans.

"I know, she's just happy to see her again." Logan said as he sat on the ground waiting for Kendall to stir and pour out the paint.

"What about you?" James asked rolling a clean brush over his chest.

"Yeah I guess I mean. I'm kind of scared of it I don't know how to… deal with a baby sister that I haven't seen since I was eight and tried to kill herself. What if I say like…pumpkin or something and that triggers her and makes her psycho?"

"If pumpkin is her trigger then your mom is fucked she always makes pumpkin pie." Kendall chuckled pouring the paint out and grabbing a brush. "But aside from the suicidal part you know, forget that, are you excited to see her?"

"Not gonna lie, I really am." Logan nodded and stood up grabbing his roller. "She used to idolize me." Logan grinned a little bit as his memories of his youth started to surface. "She had a hard time saying my name too, she used to say 'Horty' because Hortense was difficult for her."

"Yeah we all have a hard time saying that. Thank god my mom forced a new name on you. Damn both of you kids have weird names." James was laughing and painting the wall when he felt the brush go down his back. He looked behind him and down and groaned. "Come on dude, white shirt!"

"Should have known better." Logan shrugged and continued painting. The boys painted the room in a matter of hours and it passed his mom's inspection. Afterwards they had enjoyed a nice dinner made by her before she explained that some of her furniture would be in the next day for them to assemble, and the rest would get sent to storage. So the day after the boys put in her bed frame and mattress, her desk, dresser, a bookshelf, and a few free-standing shelves. The rest of the boxes in her room were things for her to unpack when she got there. That night when they finished setting everything up Kendall patted him on the back. "She comes in tomorrow. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can possibly be." Logan nodded back.

Now just how ready can someone be when they don't even know what their sibling looks like? Who was he going to pick up at the airport? Not his sister, but a stranger that bore the identity of his sister. A stranger that tried to eliminate that identity altogether. Logan wasn't sure what the hell he had gotten himself into, he was just hoping that this wasn't going to go to hell. His mom was trying so hard to make this situation as comfortable as possible for her. She felt that Coraline should be introduced to his friends and be a part of the huge family that was these four boys. So at night Logan would take her to their mom's house and the guys would meet there.

At the airport Logan took a deep breath, he stood there alone without his three friends. They were needed at the firehouse, and Logan was only out for a short amount of time considering the circumstances. Since he had no idea how she looked he stood there holding a sign that said _Coraline_. He felt like this was a bad 80's movie that would somehow go from a depressing beginning to a romantic end. Logan stood there in his uniform nodding awkwardly to the people, mostly women, who were giving him predatory stares.

As Logan was waiting there with the anxiety inside him building up, a lanky woman with long wavy black hair that was swaying at her elbows began to approach him, dragging behind a giant suitcase and a backpack. Logan watched and studied her wondering if that was his sister. She looked down as she walked, it was hard to see her face because of that but he was able to make out other things. In this summer heat she was wearing a pair of shorts and a tattered The Who shirt, on the wrist that was dragging a suitcase he could see a weird bat-heart tattoo inspired by Fall Out Boy, their classic logo, but he didn't know that. When he looked up he froze seeing this woman chewing on her lip, showing the same dimples he had. While Logan had deep espresso colored eyes, Coraline took after their father and had hazel eyes. She stood in front of him and the two siblings let out the breaths caught in their chest. Logan was thrown back to a time when this lanky, unhealthy looking woman was just a small plump little girl idolizing him.

"_OH GOSH HORTY!" Coraline yelled and ran over to Logan throwing her arms around his waist. "I found ROCKS and they are so cool they are different colors! Let's collect them!"_

"_Okay!" He grinned and hugged her back and followed his sister to the backyard where she squatted down and pointed to a pile of rocks where some were grey, others were black, and few were white. "Whoa Cori so many colors!"_

"_I know! We can start a rock farm." She grinned. Logan nodded but then quickly shook his head. "Wait these rocks are dirty! We can be rock doctors and clean and fix them and then sell them and be gillionaires!"_

"_HORTY YOU'RE SO SMART!" She beamed and nodded. The two ran inside and Coraline followed him of course into his room where she would sometimes sleep. He pulled on his tiny lab coat and stethoscope and handed her a lab coat as well and a face mask. He grabbed his tiny fake suitcase and ran back outside with her to clean the rocks and perform 'physicals' to make sure they were perfect to sell. Coraline giggled and sat beside him cleaning the rocks. "This is so fun. You are so smart we'll be so great together!"_

"_I know we have the best idea here!" Logan nodded setting the clean rocks aside. "You da best Horty." She beamed up at him before hugging him once more._

"UHHH Hi….Coraline…" Logan nodded slowly to make sure he was talking to the right person. She nodded slowly and continued chewing on her lip. "Yeah… Hort—" She closed her eyes and stopped herself taking a deep breath. "Logan." She nodded, correcting herself.

"Yeah Uh…Hey." They stared at each other with tension so thick they could cut it with a chainsaw. He reached out and hugged her in the most awkward and stiff hug in the world. He was worried he came off creepy and she wouldn't hug him, but she lightly patted his back, that was a start.

"Let me get those bags." He swiftly took the luggage from her hand and grabbed the backpack she slid off of her shoulders. "Nice tattoo." He commented, then as he said that he noticed the tiniest bass clef tattoo behind her ear, about the size of a thumb nail. "Two tattoos." He corrected.

"I have more." She answered walking with him. The lanky sibling hugged herself awkwardly as she walked with him. "You've gotten tall."

"So have you." He chuckled thinking it was a joke but when he glanced over at her she wasn't laughing. He cleared his throat and was just wishing he could be home with his mom to dump her with her and go back to work. "How are you?"

"Fine." A lovely one-word answer to make it even more awkward. The two left to Logan's car where he put her bags in the trunk and opened the door. After muttering a quiet thank you she slid in and the awkward drive began.

"So what do you do?" Logan decided to ask.

"I cook." Coraline nodded staring out the window. "I was sous chef at a restaurant for a while."

"Hey you cook! That's great! I cook too, I make a mean bowl of cereal. Oh man, toss some bananas in there and bam." He glanced over cautiously to see if his joking was working, and he sighed in relief when he saw her stare at him and crack a smile.

"That's very nice, perhaps you'll show me how you make that dish." Coraline replied.

"Oh I don't know, it's really for the more seasoned professionals."

"I like a challenge." Coraline nodded. _Thank god she found that funny_. Logan thought as they were driving. He stopped at his house and carried her bags in. "So we set up your room, you just have to unpack." He nodded carrying her bags inside. Coraline stood at the door of the room observing it. "This is very nice, thank you."

"It's nothing, me and the guys did it so…"

"The guys?"

"Yeah my friends, you'll meet them tonight when we go to mom's for dinner." Logan stared at her unsure if he left her there if she'd still be alive when he came back. " I need to go back to work so…" He watched as she opened the backpack and stared pulling out pill bottles and setting them on a shelf. Coraline turned around when he stopped talking and noticed him staring, then glanced back at the pills.

"Vitamins." She answered his silent question. "I'm not allowed to take medication like that anymore." Logan nodded.

"So… uh yeah I need to go to work are you…okay here by yourself?"

"I won't kill myself in your house if that' what you're asking." She answered rather bluntly as she began to pull out more of her belongings. "That's rude. If I wanted to kill myself I'd go somewhere else to do it."

"….Duly noted." Logan said. "I'll uh see you later then." He moved to her awkwardly not sure how to say goodbye, he settled on patting her back and leaving a spare key on the desk before leaving. Coraline sighed and closed her eyes once she heard the door to the house close and his car pull away. Staying with family that would actually love and appreciate her, that was something different, something new, and she wasn't quite sure if she could handle it.


	3. Fascinating Dinner

When Logan returned home that night he froze hearing absolutely nothing in the house. He was wondering if Coraline was still there, alive, or if she just decided this was all too much and ran away. Logan walked further inside and noticed she wasn't in either the kitchen or the living room. "Coraline?" He called only to have no response. He continued his venture and walked down the hall. The bathroom door was open with no one inside, his room was empty, so he poked his head into her room cautiously. Logan threw his head back and sighed, something he noticed he had been doing a lot of that day. Coraline's room was full of mostly empty, torn up boxes, minus a few that were still packed. She was lying on the bed wearing jeans and a crisp black babydoll blouse. _Must be to look nice for mom and dinner_, he thought watching her sleep on the bed. She looked exhausted and he imagined it was from all the unpacking she did. Logan stepped inside quietly and went straight for the row of pill bottles on the desk. Four bottles, and they were all vitamins A, D, Zinc, and Biotin. Wanting to be sure that she wasn't lying to him, he opened the bottles and looked inside, and they were in fact vitamins. Logan glanced over to make sure she was still asleep, and she was. He stepped back and glanced over her belongings. The bookshelf was quickly being filled up with Stephen King books, taking up three shelves already out of the five. At her desk aside from the pills was a large desktop computer, an iPod dock, microphone, and printer all neatly set up. Her dresser had draws open and full of clothing, and on the top was a row of perfumes and a jewelry box. Not a single photograph could be found if one did a quick once-over of her room. However if you looked closely at the mirror above her dresser there was an old polaroid of the family before the battles began. Logan assumed he was six and she was four in that picture.

It was summer time. The siblings were holding hands and each had an ice cream cone with vanilla ice cream dribbling down over their hands. Their parents stood behind them. Happy, in love. Daniel stood behind Logan resting his hand on the top of his head while holding his wife's waist in his other arm. There was no mistaken the two were siblings, they looked so much alike in their youth. However there was something different with the picture. Their father's face was gone, literally. It looked as though someone took a pin and stabbed his face a thousand times, completely eliminating it and leaving the man in the photo a mystery. Logan chewed on his lip wondering why the photo was like that. He knew nothing of Coraline's life in Michigan, perhaps there were more things wrong with his father than he thought. Logan turned around and saw she was still asleep, so he walked over and gently shook her awake. Startled, Coraline woke up and started backing up quickly on her bed half-asleep. "Hey easy it's just me." Logan said quietly. Coraline rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Hello Logan."

"Hey, I'm going to take a shower then we'll go to mom's okay?"

"Okay that's fine." She nodded and sat up on the bed yawning before walking over to her dresser to select a perfume. Logan watched her for a moment, desperately wondering what the years have done to her before going to the bathroom to shower.

Roughly an hour later the pair of siblings stood outside his mom's house, both siblings wearing black shirts of some sort and jeans with converse. While Coraline was more feminine, Logan went with the black cardigan and white v-neck. He opened the door to the house and could hear his mom laughing at something Carlos was saying. Probably an imitation of their captain that liked to talk to himself when he thought he was alone. When the door closed behind him it was immediately quiet and he noticed his sister look down at his shoes almost instantly. Logan patted her back which made her flinch and look up at him quickly. "It'll be fine. The guys are a bunch of goofballs." He smiled a bit and she nodded nervously, walking closely behind him as he walked into the kitchen. In the kitchen Carlos was sitting on the counter drinking a beer while James leaned against the counter beside him and Kendall sat at the table by Logan's mom. Joanna grinned seeing Logan and ran over. "Hi my beautiful baby boy!" She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. "How was work? I heard you saved a kitten today."

"Yeaaah I saved a cat." Logan sighed shaking his head. "It's the same damn cat it does this every day it's not funny anymore."

"Logan's the local hero of the cat families." Carlos laughed. Logan flipped him off and stepped aside so Coraline was now into view. The guys saw her and of course to be polite, walked over and the crowd around her began to feel a bit overwhelming. She took a deep breath and began cracking her fingers nervously as Joanna looked her over with a warm, teary smile.

"Coraline, aren't you a beautiful young woman?" Joanna managed to say, holding back those overwhelming tears of joy she had upon seeing her daughter for the first time since she was six. Joanna grabbed those nervous twitching hands and squeezed them tightly before throwing her arms around her daughter. _How can she call me beautiful? What is she seeing?_ Coraline thought as she lightly hugged her mom and awkwardly patted her back. "Thank you Joann, you've aged quite nicely." That line, that line was like a little pin prick on Joanna's heart. It felt so rehearsed, so generic, not at all sounding like a daughter. However she understood it, Joanna was absent in her life and even though it wasn't by choice she couldn't force Coraline to be comfortable with her instantly. Joanna pulled away and smiled at her then quickly slapped Logan lightly on the shoulder. "Logie-Bear, introduce your friends to your sister don't be rude!"

"Yeah Logie!" Carlos mimicked with a grin. Logan shook his head and cleared his throat. "Okay, well that funny little Latin over there is Carlos Garcia." Carlos had a big smile on his face and he shook her hand. "The pretty-boy there is James Diamond." James smiled at her warmly, that classic beautiful person smile and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you." James nodded and her feeble response was 'you too', clearly intimidated by his stature and way too beautiful face. "And that freak with the giant eyebrows is Kendall Knight. We all work down at the firehouse." Kendall smiled and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you Coraline, cool tattoo." He nodded glancing at her wrist.

"Thank you." She nodded and once she stopped shaking his hand she quickly shoved her hands into her pockets and looked down at her shoes trying to find comfort at staring at the floor and not feel awkward.

"Well how about we eat huh? I made mashed potatoes, a nice roasted chicken, and we have a great apple pie I made for dessert." Joanna grinned clapping her hands together.

"Ugh man I'm starving." Logan said rushing to the table and sitting down. The way they sat down was like a habit for them, a choreographed dance where they all knew where to sit. There were two chairs empty between Kendall and Logan, and Coraline grabbed the one next to Logan. Logan smiled a bit to himself, finding it nice that she chose to sit by him. Whether it was for her own comfort or just because she thought maybe Kendall was an alien, he didn't care. Joanna set down the large platters of food. "Dig in everyone—CARLOS no taking from James' plate!" James looked down to see Carlos trying to swap his roll with James' because it looked better.

"Dude!" James said staring down at him.

"What?! Yours looks more golden."

"You and food have issues."

"They are not issues it's called a good healthy relationship with it." Carlos said as a matter of factly. Coraline giggled at their argument and began to pile food on her plate. Carlos heard her giggle and grinned feeling proud of himself.

"So Coraline what do you do?" Kendall asked.

"Yeah are you a firefighter like the rest of us?" James chuckled before taking a sip of water. Coraline shook her head and placed her fork down gently on the table.

"No actually I'm a chef. I was a sous chef back home." Everyone turned to Carlos who stopped eating and stared at her.

"Oh god Carlos found his new best friend." James laughed patting Carlos on the back.

"So you cook! That's great because I like to eat so if you ever want to stop by the station and just bring food that's fine." Carlos grinned, dreaming of all the food they could have in the future.

"Dude chill." Logan said glaring at him.

"It' fine. I have to start looking for a new job in this town. Perhaps while I'm in between jobs I can bring food to you guys if you wish. Just say the word I suppose." Coraline nodded.

"Word." Carlos laughed and the guys shook their heads.

"What a fat ass." James laughed and Carlos quickly elbowed him. "Dude says you!" Carlos turned his attention to Coraline. "Kendall's mom made a big giant ass batch of cookies and brought it to the station for _everyone_ and James ate the whole god damn thing!"

"Yeah I didn't get to have any! And she's my mom!" Kendall laughed.

"You know what? There just weren't a lot of cookies." James shrugged in defense. The playful banter between the four friends continued for the rest of the night while Coraline was left out of it. They would try to include her, telling her funny bits about her brother or what happens at work, but she was content with just listening to them and watching them interact with each other. She was fascinated with how much love there was between all of them, it was a nice change of pace for her. After dinner they enjoyed some apple pie before they all split up to go home. Joanna crushed Coraline in a hug, not caring if Coraline felt uncomfortable. The siblings went back to Logan's house and walked in quietly.

"So what did you think of everyone?" Logan asked as he put the containers of food into the refrigerator. Coraline stood outside the kitchen watching him put the food away.

"Your friends are funny. They seem like a good group of people. Joanna is nice, very sweet."

"You can call her mom you know." Logan remarked, walking out of the kitchen.

"I'll do that at my own pace." Coraline replied walking to her room. "Goodnight." She called not turning back and shutting the door behind her. "night…" Logan muttered walking into his room.

"Well Logan I think we made some progress today." He sighed to himself stripping down to his underwear before jumping into bed.


	4. All Sorts of Crazy

The rest of that week was rather quiet in Logan's house, even though he had a second person living with him. Coraline spent the week organizing her room to her liking. Everything was placed so perfectly in her room it was rather picture-esque. Aside from organizing her room she went online and looked through the job listings for something she could do, trying to gain interviews for chef positions at the restaurants in town. She didn't want to just live with her brother and not contribute at all, it wouldn't be fair. Plus with two people she needed to contribute to the income, and keep herself from becoming bored and dealing with her thoughts constantly.

On Logan's day off he promised to show Coraline around town. He woke up in the morning and paused in the kitchen. For the past few days since she's been there Coraline would get up and make breakfast, then go back to sleep. Logan assumed it was just her leftovers and he didn't mind because they were delicious. Coraline however felt it was only polite to make him something to eat in the morning before he left, considering he opened his home to her. Quite frankly he got used to finding breakfast in the kitchen but there was nothing there. Logan glanced at the clock, it was ten in the morning and there was no sign of her being up yet. He walked to her room and saw the door was open and peaked inside. Seeing that Coraline wasn't in bed he panicked and checked every room of the house and ran to his room to get his cell phone, then quickly realized he didn't even have her number. Panicking Logan pulled on his clothes and shoes and ran for the door with his car keys in hand. When he opened the door he saw Coraline there drenched in sweat holding her keychain wearing a sports bra and shorts.

"Where the fuck were you?" Logan shouted pulling her into the house. Coraline looked down at her shoes quietly and her outfit then stared at him. Logan sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You should have left a note or something, I was scared shitless—"

"That I jumped in front of a bus or something?" Coraline asked and Logan nodded. "That's a nice thought."

"Well can you blame me? I didn't know where you were I don't even have your number."

"All you had to do was ask for it." She replied, walking away to the bathroom. "I'm going to shower. Do you want breakfast?"

"That would be nice." Logan huffed sitting down on the sofa. Was he over-reacting? Well considering the situation it's quite debatable. On one hand all she did was go out for a run and try to be healthy. There was no harm done on purpose. On the other hand considering she is known to have suicidal tendencies, and she did mention if she was going to kill herself she would leave the house to do so. Logan wasn't sure whether or not that was a joke but he wasn't fond at the thought of finding out the hard way. After debating whether he was being an asshole or not he settled on the fact that he wasn't, but he could have done without the shouting and yanking. He glanced over and noticed Coraline stood in the kitchen with her hair wrapped up in a towel wearing her pajamas as she began to pour pancake batter into a frying pan before running away to put the towel back in the bathroom. When breakfast was ready the two quietly sat at the table and ate.

"Sorry for shouting at you and being rude." Logan sighed. "I was nervous I mean…you know your whole situation—"

"I know Logan. I understand." Coraline nodded sipping her orange juice. "I would have done the same thing you did if the situation was reversed I'm sure." Logan nodded and licked his lips thinking about the next thing he wanted to say. "Something's on your mind."

"Yeah uh…mom wanted to know if you made any appointments with anyone yet." He said staring at her. Ah yes the dreaded appointments. Joanna highly suggested for Coraline to find a new therapist to discuss her issues with since she made no attempt to tell either herself or Logan.

"No I have not."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to?"

"Why…?"

"I have my reasons."

"Coraline you're here to get better don't knock it."

"Quite frankly Logan the last time I went to a therapist I got this amazing pill that seemed to fix all issues I had and it was so great I took about a fist-full and got my stomach pumped from desperately trying to end my life and doing a shitty job of doing so. So if I don't want to see a therapist I think I shouldn't be badgered about it." Coraline said rather harshly before slicing her pancake down the middle in one quick rapid movement with her knife which made Logan incredibly nervous.

"Look I get it you don't like therapists or whatever you don't trust them, but you need help."

"I prefer the term cold-turkey—"

"Look that doesn't work with everything so either you talk to me or mom or you go find a therapist. A complete stranger who will probably just give you a prescription to more pills that'll ruin your life, so take your pick Coraline." Logan crossed his arms over his chest. He knew of course what he was doing. With the way he described that ultimatum she really only had one option if she was so determined to quit 'cold-turkey' from taking an prescription medication in order to get better. Coraline narrowed her eyes staring at her older brother, realizing she had fallen into his verbal trap, and Logan returned the eye gesture. "So? What will it be? Going to spill any details?"

"Fine, here's a few details. I suffer from depression if that wasn't obvious enough. They thought I suffered from bi-polar disorder but they're still not sure. I think I'm just a crazy bitch." Coraline shrugged. Logan cringed at hearing her call herself a crazy bitch. It was so weird going from a sweet six year old that called her Horty to this grown woman who was now cursing and speaking freely like a cynic. "I have anxiety, although I think I've made quite a lot of progress with that. They also suspected a mild form of OCD, and a neglectful childhood leading to chronic nightmares which sometimes produces episodes of insomnia. Also I had a habit in my teenage years of cutting myself. I considered doing that to kill myself but it can get so messy, plus it seemed a bit over-dramatic. Blood makes everything worse." Coraline finally finished listing all that was possibly wrong with her and Logan's jaw was slightly opened and his eyes were wide. "I know I'm all kinds of fucked up."

"I didn't say that!"

"But you were thinking that, and it's fine. I wouldn't blame you." She answered eating her pancake.

_Neglectful childhood, so that explains why Daniel's face is completely obliterated from the photograph_ he thought watching her eat. "So you said neglectful childhood—"

"Don't want to talk about it. Not today, I believe I've told you enough for the week." Coraline took the two dishes and carried them to the sink. Logan sighed, his curiosity would have to wait, but at least he got some information and progress was made. "I'll go get dressed, if we're still going out."

"We are, we can go out with the guys later too if you want."

"I'll see." Was all she answered before slinking back to her room to get dressed for the day. Later Coraline emerged from her bedroom wearing shorts and tank top along with flip flops. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and the two walked outside into the hot Minnesota sun. "Do you want to drive or walk?"

"Drive it's hotter than hades." She replied jumping into the car. Logan started the car and went about driving his sister around the town. He pointed out a couple of restaurants, some places she had applied to. Then he pointed out the shopping district, a couple of supermarkets, places to hang out and relax. She was finding the tour to be somewhat enjoyable, then his phone rang and distracted them. "Alright I have to stop by the station for a few minutes, do you mind?"

"Not at all Logan." He nodded and drove her, the two exited the car and walked inside. When Coraline walked in beside Logan a few whistles were heard and Logan turned red. "HEY that's my baby sister so shut the fuck up!" He yelled to the guys that were standing off to the side. They quickly muttered some stuff to each other before scattering off. Logan sighed and looked around and spotted Kendall chugging down a bottle of water walking towards the staircase. "Come on." Logan tugged on her hand and dragged her over to Kendall. "Dude!" Kendall turned around. "Captain called wanted me to check some stuff, stick with Cori for a little bit?"

"Yeah sure…." Kendall nodded, noticing Coraline raise her eyebrows at the nickname that was used, something that hadn't been used in such a long time. Logan nodded and ran off up the stairs while Kendall walked back down them with Coraline. "So how do you like Minnesota so far?"

"It's hot as hell." Coraline sighed to which Kendall laughed. "I haven't really gone out this week. I went out this morning for a run and Logan just showed me around. It's nice, it's a cute place this town."

"Yeah it's pretty cool. So is that your only tattoo?" Kendall asked gesturing to her wrist.

"Oh no, I have this one…." She turned and pulled her ear so he could see the tiny bass clef behind it. "I also have one on my hip bone." She nodded but didn't show him that one.

"Ah, so you're a Fall Out Boy fan huh?"

"You know that?" She asked surprised raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah I'm a DecayDance fan." Kendall chuckled. "We all have our different tastes, I drift more towards rock. I like Forever the Sickest Kids, The Academy Is, a lot of those guys." Coraline genuinely grinned hearing his music tastes.

"As do I, I think their music is fantastic. William Beckett has lovely vocals."

"Oh yeah guy's got a good voice." Kendall nodded and sipped his water. "Oh, you want water or something?"

"I'm fine thanks."

"Alright, how about I show you around?" Coraline shrugged and nodded. Kendall walked beside her showing her around the firehouse. They walked upstairs and he continued the tour until they bumped into James.

"Oh Little Logan!" James deemed it fit to name her Little Logan. "Coming out with us tonight?"

"Um perhaps, where are you guys going?"

"Going to the bar you should come along it'll be fun."

"Okay sure…." Coraline shrugged, might as well. Logan walked over after finding them and stood beside her. "Everything's okay?"

"Yes, James invited me to the bar with you guys tonight. I said I'll go."

"Good then, we'll see you guys tonight, later." Logan said bye to them, as did Coraline. Logan was happy his sister was willing to go out with his friends and attempt to have a good time. However the idea that his sister might go crazy near alcohol was something that bothered him. Truth be told he wasn't sure how she was with alcohol and he was apprehensive about finding out.


	5. Complete 180

The heat was intense that day and even well into the night. Logan watched the news as he waited for Coraline to get ready—again, and saw that they were now in a heat wave. Logan rolled his eyes, he just loved heat waves. It was the worst time because he couldn't hang out at the station. They would have to stand outside handing water out to people. He didn't mind giving people the water that wasn't the issue, it was standing outside in that smoldering sun that ruined it for him. Coraline walked into the living room wearing a light white sun-dress and flats. It was too hot to wear pants, she couldn't take it so she showered once again and changed into new clothing. Someone has some serious hygienic issues.

"A heat wave?" Coraline groaned watching the news. "That sucks I hate this drastic weather." She whined following Logan to the car.

"You still get those nose bleeds huh?" Logan asked opening the door for her. Coraline stopped and turned around to face him. "Nose bleeds?"

"Yeah you used to get nose bleeds when it was too hot or too cold for you. I remember." Logan nodded walking around to his side of the car and getting in. Coraline blinked for a moment and got into the car, slamming her door shut. "I didn't think you'd remember that, but yeah I still do."

"Oh I remember a lot." Logan nodded driving to the bar. "Like what?" Coraline challenged. Logan chuckled and thought back to their childhood as he drove. Logan grinned when he seemed satisfied with himself and began to tell her what he remembered.

_Logan and Coraline were two little rascals on the hunt for cookies. Logan was seven and Coraline was five, and the two of them desperately wanted some chocolate chip cookies. Logan managed to dress himself with black sweatpants and a black t shirt. He tried to dress Coraline but her shirt ended up being backwards and he couldn't find black pants, so she wore bright yellow pants. The two kids crawled underneath the kitchen table and watched as their mom finished cleaning up the counter and left the kitchen. Coraline giggled once she left and Logan quickly shushed her. They rolled across the floor until they got to the counter where Logan picked up Coraline the best she could so she could reach the counter._

"_I'm too little!" She pouted smacking the kitchen counter._

"_Shh! I got an idea!" Logan looked around spotted the stepping stool their mom used to set out if one of them wanted to help her cook. He ran over and put it in front of the counter and took a step up, but Coraline was whining she wanted to do it, so he climbed down and helped her up. She stuck her hand into the cookie jar and kept pulling out cookies until Logan said stop. She put the cookies on the hem of her shirt that she was holding like a basket and climbed down. Logan put the stool away and the pair ran off to enjoy their cookies under his bed._

"_Oh my gosh Horty we did it!"_

"_I know Cori we rock!" The two hugged each other and enjoyed their cookies underneath the bed._

"I really threw a hissy fit over not getting the cookies?" Coraline chuckled shaking her head.

"Absolutely you were flipping out, I had to hurry up and jump down so mom wouldn't come running in." Logan laughed. "We had a couple of adventures like that. You don't remember?"

"I do, just not as well as you do I guess because I was smaller."

"Yeah I guess." Logan nodded and the two entered the bar and sighed happily feeling the air conditioning. That terrible three minute walk from the parking spot to the inside of that bar was far too hot to deal with. The pair spotted Logan's friends sitting in a booth towards the back and they walked over. "Do you drink?" Logan questioned.

"I'll take a shot or a something fruity, maybe a whiskey I'm not picky." Logan nodded and went to the bar hoping his sister wasn't an alcoholic while she slid into the booth beside Kendall.

"Hey Little Logan! Lookin' nice." James nodded sipping his beer. "Where's Logan?"

"Get drinks for the two of us. It's so hot outside ugh." She frowned trying to make conversation.

"Oh yeah heat wave time. That means we stand outside all day and hand out water." Carlos whined.

"While looking hot for the ladies." James grinned.

"Literally." Kendall laughed. Coraline shook her head with a small smile and grinned when Logan came by with a daiquiri for her. She quickly chugged it while the boys made conversation, then she got up to get another drink. Logan watched nervously as she went to the bar by herself.

"Dude are you alright?" Kendall questioned.

"I don't think Logan wants her to get hit on." James chuckled.

"I don't! She doesn't know anyone here and I don't know how she is with alcohol! Yeah I'm worried." Logan muttered watching her drum on the bar and wait for her drink. Logan then watched as she downed a shot like it was nothing and walked back over to the guys. "So what you guys just sit here and talk?"

"Well James usually picks up a girl." Carlos answered and James grinned and nodded.

"We usually just chill, throw some darts, play some pool."

"Cool." Coraline nodded watching them. It was quiet amongst the five of them and that made her feel very uncomfortable like if she was ruining a guy's night out. Coraline cracked her fingers and chewed her lip nervously before getting up and walking back to the bar.

"So this got awkward rather quickly." Kendall nodded glancing at his friends.

"Well we can't really talk about women and guy stuff with his younger sister here." James retorted.

"You invited her!"

"I KNOW!" James sighed realizing he fucked himself over. "There's gotta be other stuff we could all do." The guys all sat there wondering how to entertain her, then Logan remembered she had walked away. He looked around quickly and had trouble spotting her. "Shit where did she go?" He sighed and stood up ready to find her. "She's probably playing with the radio or something I'll check with you." Kendall said going in one direction while Logan went the other. Meanwhile Coraline was sitting at the bar downing shots like a sailor. A man approached her and leaned on the counter watching her drink. She raised an eyebrow and turned to stare at him. "Can I help you?"

"I've just never seen a woman guzzle shots down like that before." He answered with a creepy smile.

"Maybe I'm not a woman." Coraline replied with a straight face. The man blinked and looked down then quickly walked away. She laughed to herself and ordered a whiskey and sipped that silently by herself when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She flinched and pulled away, "I'm a man." She muttered.

"Somehow I don't believe that." Coraline turned around in her seat and saw Kendall standing there with a small grin. "A man huh?"

"Hey it worked on the guy who actually used the term 'guzzle'." She shrugged and sipped her whiskey. The alcohol was definitely hitting her, so slower speech as she concentrated on not messing up was fairly obvious to Kendall.

"Uh huh….How many shots have you had in total?"

"A good amount. Going to snitch on me to my brother?" Coraline raised an eyebrow staring at Kendall and he shook his head.

"No but he thinks you're off getting kidnapped or date-raped so maybe you should come hang out with us." He suggested shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Actually I don't feel like it." Coraline turned her back on Kendall and continued to sip her whiskey while Kendall stood there wondering how to get her over to Logan before he lost his mind. He quickly turned around to see if Logan was approaching and sighed seeing him approach the two. "Coraline!" She spun around in the stool and sighed seeing Logan. "Why did you leave? What are you doing? How much did you drink?"

"Enough." Coraline held her hand up to stop him from asking a million questions. "Enjoying myself, now go."

"What? No I'm not going you're coming with us!"

"I'm not a child!"

"I don't care you're here with me and I'm not letting you do anything stupid so get up and come on." Logan glared at his sister and she stood up glaring at him. She crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head defiantly. Logan groaned and stood there staring at her and waiting for her to act like an adult. Coraline turned right back around and ordered two more shots. Logan sighed and threw her over his shoulder holding the back of her thighs so her dress wouldn't slide up. "So Kendall we're going to go I'll see ya at work."

"Yeah no problem see you guys later…." Kendall nodded waving to the fleeing siblings. Coraline growled and started smacking Logan on the back like a rabid animal.

"Put me down asshole! You're not the boss of me I can do what I want if I want to drink and not be near you that's my right!"

"Not when you're living under my roof and you're with me and my friends you stay with us so can keep an eye on you!"

"I don't want you to keep an eye on me!"

"Clearly you do if you came to Minnesota!" Logan responded, putting her in the front seat of the car before getting in and driving home. When they got back Coraline staggered to her room and quickly locked the door behind her. He sighed and walked into his room and could hear her loudly screaming profanities and things flying against the walls. He rubbed his temples and sat down on the bed wondering where he went wrong that night.


	6. A Good Brother

**(I didn't thank for reviews before it totally slipped my mind! Thank you Carlos'sCupcakes you're far too nice! I'm glad to hear that you're in a better place now that's fantastic! :D thank you paumichhy and BeccaRawrsATL, I'm glad you guys are finding this story to be interesting, I hope I don't fuck it up for you guys!)**

The morning after hearing his sister go on a rampage in her room Logan was still surprised to see breakfast out on the table for him. After eating he went to check on her and knocked on the door. "I'm busy." Was the only response he would get. After arriving at work the guys asked how she was doing and all he could do was shrug and answer that he didn't know.

"She completely went on a rampage last night I think she trashed her own room. I don't even know why or what I did!" Logan sighed checking the pumps and pressure gauges of one of the trucks. Kendall sighed watching his friend work. "I think I was being fair!"

"Did you get any sleep over this?"

"No I didn't." Logan growled climbing on top of the truck to make sure the ladder was working okay. Kendall nodded and climbed inside the truck. "Well, I think it all went downhill right when you got there. I think the awkward silence is what did it."

"That's it? An awkward silence made her flip out in her room?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure the awkward silence made her uncomfortable and just not want to be there." Kendall nodded as he grabbed the tool box and heaved it to the top of the truck. "Then she went drinking, and you coming in acting like a father is probably what pushed it."

"But I'm just trying to care for her!"

"I know Logan, we all know that, but …I don't know man she's your sister sometimes you just have to let her do what she wants but stay close by."

"How do you deal with Katie when she acts dramatic?" Logan sighed wiping his hands on his pants. Kendall shrugged at Logan and flipped the box open. It wasn't like Katie was in the same situation as Coraline was, but sometimes a teenage girl was quite dramatic. "I just give her space and watch from afar, if she wants to speak to me then and there I let her, otherwise I wait."

"I can't do that dude, I don't want to wait too long." Logan replied.

"I know, and I don't blame you, you just have to test it and see what works for the both of you." Logan nodded at his advice and the two continued their tasks inside the firehouse. Right now James and Carlos were out on the streets distributing water to people because that's how hot it was becoming. Kendall and Logan didn't have to do that until later in the day when the heat was at its peak, but at least it become somewhat cooler at night.

For the rest of the week Logan did not recall seeing his sister. She'd make breakfast and leave it for him, but by the time he would wake up she was hidden in her room staying away from the world. Her room was in fact a hot mess. She had thrown every book off of the book shelf and threw that to the floor. Her makeup was scattered everywhere and the boxes that she hadn't unpacked were now empty with her belongings strewn everywhere. The rest of the week was spent cleaning up that mess and making it look as though nothing ever went wrong in her room. Aside from dents in the wall and some broken cosmetics, things weren't too bad.

There was the possibility of her cutting herself. She thought about it but didn't feel like dealing with the blood or the clean up behind it. She wasn't a teenager anymore, she felt it didn't have quite the same effect that it used to. Instead, she just wouldn't sleep. The first night she had a nightmare that she tried to kill Logan at the bar that night, so it was better off that she didn't sleep the rest of the week, which was no problem. She worked straight through the night repairing her room. On Friday in the later afternoon however she was forced to go outside to go through two interviews for some of the restaurants she applied to. After interviewing and of course putting the best smile possible on her face, she showed some of her skills in their ridiculously over-heated kitchens before leaving to walk home. As she was walking she un-tucked the blouse from her black skirt and popped the buttons leaving the shirt open to see her black tank top. As she walked home she saw a fire truck and cautiously walked over to see who was there. Logan and Kendall were sitting on it chatting and she took a deep breath before walking over.

"Hello boys." Coraline nodded softly, Logan got up quickly and nodded to her.

"Hey Coraline, how are you?" Kendall smiled leaning on the truck.

"I'm fine I went on two interviews today."

"Yeah? How did they go?" Logan asked hoping she wouldn't ignore him and he was happy and relieved when she didn't.

"They went well, I have three more on Monday, I'm hoping one of them at least likes me enough." She nodded and adjusted the purse on her shoulder. Coraline closed her eyes and took a deep breath before her next sentence. "I apologize for worrying you last week." Logan was surprised to say the least. He put down his water bottle and shook his head.

"No you know what? I'm sorry I was treating you like If you were my child not like a sister. I was being over-bearing and I'm sorry, I won't do that again." Logan told her.

"I accept your apology, I understand why you did it though." Coraline nodded and stared down. Her movement was awkward as she shifted forward and gave him a sort of side hug. "I appreciate it." Logan hugged her and grinned at Kendall with the biggest smile on his face. The two pulled away and it was quiet until Kendall's eyes widened. "Uhh Coraline your nose…" Logan glanced over and saw his sister pull her hand away to see blood dripping down. "Shit." She muttered staring at the ground so the blood fell on the concrete and not on her clothes. Logan quickly grabbed the first aid kit from the truck while Kendall sat her down and tilted her head back. "It's just a nose bleed you guys." She said so they could stop fussing.

"We know, but we're still obligated to help. Even if it was a paper cut." Kendall joked which made her snort and laugh. Logan came by with tissues from the kit and held it to her nose. Coraline took them from him and held it herself. "Just like when we were kids huh?" She chuckled with her eyes closed so she wouldn't stare at the sunlight.

"Kids huh?" Kendall asked staring at Logan who nodded with a small smile.

"Yeah she used to get bloody noses all the time. Too hot or too cold, or picking her nose too much."

"Hey!" Coraline kicked his shin and Logan just jumped back with a laugh while Kendall grinned watching the two siblings interact with one another. "So yeah I was always around her when that happened because we'd be playing, so I'd take care of her until mom did."

"Sounds like a good brother." Kendall nodded patting Logan on the back. Coraline stopped chuckling when Kendall spoke and really thought about what he was saying. Logan was always taking care of her and even though they had been apart for nearly twenty years, he was still there taking care of her no matter the circumstance.

"Yeah, sounds like a great brother." Coraline corrected which made Logan smile unbelievably wide. When the bleeding stop she cleaned up her nose and stood up. "I'm going to go back to the house, clearly I cannot handle the heat." She joked and Logan nodded giving her a water bottle.

"Drink that, stay hydrated and turn on the AC when you get home. You feel fine you're not going to faint on your way back? You don't need a cab?"

"No Logan I'll be fine thank you. I'll see you at home, bye Logan, bye Kendall." She smiled at the two of them and walked away. When she was far enough Logan grinned and smacked Kendall on the back with excitement.

"Dude she said I'm a good brother! SHE SIDE-HUGGED ME DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH PROGRESS THAT IS?!"

"Apparently a lot, I'm glad Logan that's great."

"Thanks man." Logan sighed happily and for the rest of their shift he handed out water bottles with the biggest smile on his face. Kendall of course was happy for him and was hoping that this would last and not become a rollercoaster between the two of them.

When Coraline got home dusk was settling in. She flipped on all the air conditioning and took a nice long shower before she pulled on her pajamas. Coraline opened the refrigerator and took out the leftover food from the night before and began to microwave it. Now it was dark and she knew Logan would eventually be home soon. As she sat on the counter waiting for the food to finish heating all the lights went out. Everything came to complete stop and Coraline sat in the kitchen in the complete dark listening as the hum of the air conditioning came to an end.

"Oh my god." She breathed and started panicking. She jumped off the counter and took off running to her room, but not before running into the kitchen table and tripping over the chair. She ran into her room panicking and searched around in the dark for her phone immediately calling Logan.

"Coraline you okay? There's a blackout everything just shut down and—"

"No I'm not please come home I don't know what to do." Her breathing was ragged and he could hear her wheezing in between her words. "Everything just stopped it's so dark I'm scared Logan please!"

"Okay I'll be there in a few minutes just keep the door locked there's candles and flashlights in the closet in the hallway okay Cori? I'll be home soon."

"You promise you'll come home?" She asked softly. Logan was silent wondering why she would ask that question. He said he would be home, of course he would go home to her why would he lie about such a thing? Perhaps it was something to do with her childhood, or another episode she was having. "Logan!?"

"Yeah of course I'm coming home I promise." Logan said softly and hung up the phone. He said goodbye to his coworkers and hopped into the car, rushing home to his terrified little sister.


	7. Don't Make Me Stay Alone

Logan drove home as quickly as possible to make sure he could tend to his sister. He parked the car and ran to the front door unlocking it and stepping inside. When he got in it was dead silent and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Logan quickly walked through the living room and down the hallway. "Coraline?" he called and opened the door to her bedroom. As soon as he did so he felt her arms latch around him tightly and heard her sniffling. "Hey….hey it's okay I'm right here."

"You came home." She mumbled not letting him go. Logan nodded and rested his hand on the top of her head stroking her hair. "Of course I came home, I told you I would." He responded stroking her hair with one hand while holding her with his other arm. Coraline nodded not letting go of him. "Hey come on we'll get flash lights and candles okay?"

"Okay…"She nodded and walked with him to the closet holding all the candles Logan took down and grabbing the flash lights. They walked to the living room and Logan put all of the candles down on the coffee table and lit them up to illuminate the room. When the room was slightly illuminated Logan glanced over and could see her eyes were puffy and she was shaking on the sofa. Logan handed her a flash light and she gripped it tightly as she stared at the candles flicker. "Hey it's okay Coraline. Things will be just fine okay? It's just a blackout the power will be back on in a few hours or at the most in the morning everything will be okay."

"Okay Logan." She nodded quietly but kept her gaze focused on the burning candles. "Do you want food?" Logan asked and she nodded. "Okay…I'm going to the kitchen, you're fine here?" Again she nodded and Logan went to the kitchen and found the food on the counter and in the microwave. There was no way to reheat it now but he poked the food and was happy to see it was warm considering it was hotter than hell in the house. He put the food on two plates and brought them over to the living room along with some water. The two siblings sat side by side quietly and ate dinner. Coraline put her plate down on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest. Logan put his plate down and sat closer to her. "You're okay?" He asked softly and she nodded resting her chin on top of her knees. He chewed on his lip and wanted to question her but he wasn't sure if this was the right time. However his curiosity got the better of him.

"Coraline why did you think I wasn't coming home?" Logan questioned. She shook her head and looked down hugging herself even tighter. All he did was nod and put a comforting arm around her and squeezed her tightly. After ten minutes of silence that weren't awkward or terrible Coraline finally decided to speak. "Daniel didn't come home."

"What?" Logan furrowed his eyebrows and stared down at her. Coraline sighed and cracked her fingers staring at the flickering candles.

"You asked why did I think you weren't coming home, it's because Daniel didn't come home."

"Didn't….come home when?" Logan asked completely confused, and incredibly interested. Finally there would be a little bit of insight into the childhood she had while the two were separated. Finally an opportunity to understand why his sister was the way she was and behaved the way she did. Finally a chance to get a little bit closer to her.

_Coraline was eight years old in a small apartment above a corner store in Flint, Michigan. It was a blackout and at first the little girl was excited. It seemed like a magical night of darkness where she could pretend she was a cat and try to spend time with her father. When everything went out she wandered over to her dad who was pulling on a pair of sneakers and pushing himself off of the bed._

"_Daddy where are you going?" Coraline asked staring up at him with curiosity. Daniel sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets staring at the ceiling before looking down at his daughter. "Dad's going to go buy some water and batteries for us okay?"_

"_So we can have a tea party and a light show!?" She squealed with excitement and jumped up clasping her hands together._

"_Sure something like that kid." Daniel ruffled her hair and walked to the door. "I'll be back."_

"_Okay!" Daniel left the apartment and locked the door behind him. Coraline stood there waiting in anticipation and standing right in front of the door. After a few minutes she sat in front of it, staring at it for nearly an hour before she started to get nervous and full of anxiety. Shouting in the hallway made her jump up and she squealed nervously hearing banging on the door. Coraline ran away and slid under her bed sniffling calling for her dad but there was no answer. She stuck her hand out and grabbed her teddy bear and cried softly to herself waiting for her father to return. "Daddy?" she called again after a few hours of waiting, but there was no answer. Growing desperate being alone by herself she even began to call for the people she hadn't seen in two years. _

"_Mommy? Horty?" Coraline sniffled and clutched her bear tighter. "I'm scared!" She yelled again to the darkness where no one was there to comfort her. Coraline crawled out from under the bed and in the dark ran to the refrigerator and pulled out a juice box and shakily stabbed the straw into it. She sat in front of the refrigerator nervously sipping her juice and looking around the entire apartment. Coraline sniffled waiting there in the dark, listening to people riot in the streets along with the terrible unidentifiable sounds coming from the outside of the apartment. For two days she waited for her dad to return, fending for herself in the hot apartment._

While Coraline explained her story she kept a straight face while staring at the candles. Logan however couldn't bring himself to do that. He found himself coming to tears listening to his sister's terrifying experience. He felt terrible not being there to care for his sister. When she mentioned she called out to him and mom in the middle of the darkness he couldn't help but let the tears fall freely. More importantly he felt disgusted at the man that was titled as being their father, the man that took her away only to not give her the life she deserved. Logan wrapped both arms around her and brought her to her his chest squeezing her tightly and kissing the back of her head.

"I'm not Daniel, okay?" His voice cracked as he began to talk to her. "I won't leave you to fend for yourself. I won't ever break a promise to you okay? I'll take care of you always Coraline you're my little sister, and I'm here for you now." Logan sniffled again and took a deep breath trying to compose himself. "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, I really truly am but now I'm here, and you won't ever have to feel that way again. I promise, I love you Coraline, from now on it's going to be Horty and Cori." He kissed her one last time on the back of the head and was breathing heavily. Logan didn't expect a response from her, he didn't really leave any floating statements around for her to comment on, but the next thing she said made him feel so much better.

"I love you too Horty." She whispered quietly and squeezed him tightly. Logan smiled to himself and kept his arms around her. The two sat in silence listening to each other's ragged breathing slowly return to normal until they fell asleep.

In the morning Coraline woke up still in her brother's arms, and she felt so relieved. She figured she would wake up and he would be gone at work or would have moved her to her room and gone to his home, but she felt so safe and cared for waking up in her brother's arms. Coraline pulled away and saw Logan rubbing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. "Thank you." She said quietly.

"Thank you? For what?" Logan said furrowing his eyebrows.

"Coming home, and not leaving." Coraline nodded, Logan smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "I told you I was coming home and that was a promise, and I said I won't leave you again, so don't worry about it." Coraline nodded and smiled slightly at him before reaching over and trying to turn the TV on to test of the power was back, but it wasn't.

"I'm sure it'll be back in the middle of the day." Logan sighed running his hands through his hair. "I'll have to go to my shift in the late afternoon but I don't want you here alone. Do you want to go stay with mom or do you want to come stay at the station?"

"I'll stay at the station." Coraline nodded. She felt more comfortable being around Logan, and even if he ran off in the middle of the day to do whatever it was he did aside from fighting fires and rescuing kittens, she figured she would stay with one of the guys there that she became familiar with.


	8. Witty Story

**(Carlos'sCupcakes- Don't worry the cheeseball thing is totally cool, im a sappy person so I will always have to put cute stuff because im needy that way lmao. YAY FOR SIBLING LOVE! And BeccaRawrsATL- glad you like it :D BRAVO WOO)**

The pair of siblings arrived at the firehouse and weaved through the people asking for water or assistance and went upstairs to find Coraline someone to stay with. After dragging her up the stairs Logan led her down the hall to a large room with a huge wooden table inside. Inside was Kendall and three other men. One was holding a fist full of three straws. Aside from the man holding the pile Kendall was the last to pick, and when he drew his straw and saw how short it was he let out a frustrated yell and banged his head on the table. The three men laughed and patted Kendall on the back before leaving the large room, which Coraline now saw was a kitchen. Logan chuckled and walked over to Kendall lightly nudging him. Kendall looked up to see the pair of siblings standing side by side and smiling. To him it looked like the pair looked a bit relieved even in this blackout heat wave combination.

"Hey guys….what's up?" Kendall asked sitting in his chair in frustration.

"Well Coraline's not going to stay home alone while I'm on shift so I figured she'd stay here, and since it seems like you're stuck on kitchen duty, I guess she'll hang out with you."

"Yeah I'm stuck here." Kendall sighed then smiled and looked up at Coraline. "But I don't mind being stuck if she's keeping me company now, she has good music tastes."

"Alright then I'm gonna go with those guys and save some cats." Logan joked and turned to Coraline. "You'll be fine here with Kendall right?" She nodded and Logan hugged her. Kendall watched in surprise as the two hugged each other like normal siblings and kissed one another on the cheek before Logan ran out the room. Coraline turned and faced Kendall who got out of the chair and pushed it in. "So..hi."

"Hi." Coraline chuckled with a nod and stood there.

"Looks like you and Logan are okay huh?" Kendall asked walking over to the cooler beside the refrigerator.

"Yeah we talked last night and I saw that Logan's a wonderful brother and incredibly caring so, I think it's the start to better things." Coraline nodded and said thanks when Kendall handed her a water bottle.

"Hey that's great! I'm happy for you two. Logan was really excited you were coming home so this is great." Kendall smiled at her and opened the cabinets. He looked through them with his hands resting on his hips and started to scratch his head as he looked through. Coraline walked over and stood beside him, staring up at the kitchen cabinets. "So for kitchen duty do you just stand here in and look inside kitchen cabinets?" Kendall lowered his head to stare at her with a raised eyebrow. She smirked and he shook his head with a small chuckle.

"_Hilarious_ Coraline. No I have to cook all the food here so it doesn't go bad but I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I _hate_ kitchen duty they always rag on me for making crappy food."

"So why do they let you do it then?"

"They think it's funny to see me struggle in the kitchen." Coraline laughed and let out an 'aww' watching him pout at her and pretend to be sad.

"How about I help you with kitchen duty, okay?"

"Sure. How do you want to do this chef?"

"Umm. I don't know, I don't cook with a plan I MacGyver it." Coraline climbed up onto the counter and sat on her knees as she reached to the very top shelf to pull down a sack of potatoes and some garlic and onion bulbs. Kendall's eyes shamelessly looked her over and he tilted his head staring at her hips. Her t-shirt rode up when she stretched her arm and he could see the start of a tattoo on her hip.

"Be what?" Kendall asked. Coraline stared down at him confused and he pointed at her waist. She tugged down the side of her shorts a little bit so he could see the word _Believe _in cursive with _lie_ in red. "Ohhh, the best part of believe is the lie." Kendall grinned quoting _Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year_

"Oh very good Kendall." Coraline nodded with a smile. Kendall shrugged and watched her pull down an assortment of things from the cabinets.

" I told you I was a fan."

"I can tell." She nodded and closed the cabinets, she turned to the side to climb down and Kendall offered his hand, which she held as she jumped down. "Okay so where are the perishables slowly rotting?" Kendall laughed at her word choice and bent down next to the cooler, pulling out packages of meat, milk, butter, eggs, and cheese.

"So we'll probably have power in a few hours but I have to cook this stuff anyway because it goes bad…" Kendall checked the date of some of the meats. "Tomorrow!"

"Oh how great I love a good time constraint." Coraline shook her head. "Okay just um, get me the pots and pans and I'll cook this stuff."

"Sure but I gotta help you. It's unfair to just dump this on you." Kendall said opening a bottom cabinet and pulling out the utensils she required.

"But I'm a professional chef, it's fine."

"Don't care, I'm a professional hero therefore I have to help people, therefore I'll be your assistant." Kendall grinned at her and all she did was nod with a small smile and look down at the food while cracking her fingers. He opened the drawer and pulled out an apron, handing it to her while he took another and tied it around his waist. "Okay boss, tell me what to do!"

"You can rinse off the chicken and steaks." Kendall nodded and got to work rinsing the meat and putting them in separate containers while Coraline organized the work space on the long dining table. When he was done he walked over and waited for her to boss him around again. "Now what?"

"Now you can skin those potatoes and chop them up for me."

"You got it boss." Kendall grinned standing beside her with a potato and peeler in hand.

"You don't have to call me boss."

"Sorry boss." He glanced down at her to see if he got a laugh, and he definitely earned a smile and a shake of the head. The two stood side by side working. While Kendall chopped and peeled the potatoes Coraline started to dice up an assortment of vegetables. When that was done with she made Kendall put the whole mess of potatoes to boil while she began to season the meats. She put everything to cook, thankful that they had a gas stove and started to clean up when Kendall told her to sit and relax because he said he got it. Coraline nodded and sat in a chair quietly like if she was at school and the teacher told them to be silent. She looked around trying to entertain her eyes while Kendall quietly cleaned, and her eyes found something fascinating where she least expected it. Kendall was bent over cleaning up the floor after spilling some garbage on it and Coraline ended up tilting her head to the side and staring down his backside. A cough made her jump in her seat and she quickly turned around to see Logan leaning against the door frame. He glanced at her with a smirk forming and her eyes were wide staring at him. "So what have you two been up to?" Kendall dumped the garbage into the pail and turned around to wave at Logan.

"Oh your sister has just been bossing me around you know, telling me how to cook and making me a slave."

"Oh has she?" Logan asked walking over and staring down at her.

"No!" Coraline quickly stood up looking between the two boys. "No I just offered to cook because Kendall had to cook the food but he offered to help I'm sorry if you didn't really want to I wouldn't have told you what to do or—" Coraline was looking down at the floor twiddling her thumbs as she pleaded her side of the story.

"Hey relax." Kendall said holding his hands up in a sort of surrender. "I was only joking around."

"Oh…okay." She nodded but kept staring at the ground, ashamed she was caught by her brother for staring down his best friend like he was a piece of meat.

"You okay Coraline?" Logan asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes I am. I'll finish up." She said quietly moving to the stove to finish cooking the meats. Kendall and Logan glanced at each other, Kendall shrugged completely confused and Logan shrugged in response as well, patting his shoulder. Coraline finished cooking and used the giant containers they had to place the food. The aroma of the food filled the firehouse and the guys started filling in as they came back from doing whatever they did out in the streets.

"Hey Knight it actually smells good in here—Ohhh hello." One guy grinned seeing Coraline at the stove. She stared at him blankly and gave a small, uncaring wave before turning back to the food. Logan looked from his sister to Jones who started to grin.

"Don't you fucking dare." Logan said quickly staring Jones down.

"What? Why not?"

"That's his sister retard." James said smacking him in the back of the head and walking further into the kitchen. "Hey Coraline! Oh food great let's hide this from Carlos—"

"I SMELL FOOD AND IT DOESN'T SMELL LIKE SMOKE!" Carlos yelled running into the room where all the firemen were grabbing seats at the long table. Upon spotting her Carlos sighed happily. "You made food and Kendall didn't! Oh man I'll be able to eat for once."

"You guys are dicks I don't make shitty food every time!" Kendall said sliding plates down the table to everyone.

"Oh yes you do." One man said which made the guys laugh. Coraline chuckled quietly and slid the giant plates of food onto the table. The room was dim and darkening as the guys hungrily piled food onto their plates.

"Oh god Mitchell your sister's an angel." Jones said trying some of the food. "Fucking awesome."

"You like it, good now shut up."

"Hey all I said was she's an angel, not like I started to say something like—"

"I'm a trans-sexual." Coraline stared at the man who she was assuming was Jones, though it was hard to tell. "My name is Corey Mitchell, I started surgery and my estrogen treatments when I was about fifteen. Doctors did a good job." James choked on the food and Carlos had to start pounding him on the back. Kendall smirked looking at his plate and Logan fought back a laugh, just staring at his witty sister.

"Uhh….oh." Jones nodded and quietly went back to eating. Coraline stared down at her plate and started to pile the food on, satisfied with her fake story. Realizing there were no chairs she awkwardly stood by the window. Kendall stood up and offered her his chair, and instead he stood by the window eating. The darker it got Coraline found herself getting nervous and she watched Logan eat, hoping he would hurry up so they could leave. The lights came on and cheers were heard around the firehouse. Coraline sighed of relief and went back to eating without a worry.

When Logan's shift was over Logan went over to the rec room where Coraline was seated with the guys, listening to them go back and forth with one another ragging on each other.

"Oh please Carlos you were crying like a bitch when you had to climb that tree today." James laughed.

"Dude that can't be anything like the time you thought your hair got singed off." Kendall threw his head back and laughed.

"Or the time you heard a pop and you thought a gun went off but it was really just me opening a bottle of soda." Carlos laughed and James stuck his middle finger out at both of them.

"Hey guys we're going to go back now." Logan said entering the room. The guys nodded and said bye to the siblings. Coraline stood up from her chair and waved to the boys.

"See ya Coraline, we should cook again sometime we did a good job." Kendall grinned. She turned around and stared at Kendall. She nodded quickly and gave him a thumbs up then left with Logan. As the pair walked to the car Logan couldn't stop smirking and Coraline furrowed her eyebrows staring at him. "What is so amusing to you?"

"You were checking Kendall out."

"I was not, I just notice that he dropped food."

"On his ass?" Logan retorted. Coraline stared at him with a blank expression, narrowed her eyes, then got into the car. Logan chuckled hopped in to drive home


	9. Nightmares and Memories

A week had passed since the blackout where Logan uncovered a brief glimpse into Coraline's childhood. Coraline went through her second string of job interviews, and several places called her back to talk with them. There was one restaurant that seemed to be the most promising. It had good pay and dealt with traditional American comfort food, so now Coraline had a new job to look forward to. She covered the late afternoon, dinner crowd so she was working from three until ten.

It was the day she was supposed to start her new job, it was two in the morning and Logan crawled out of bed and ran to the bathroom, regretting the copious amounts of water he drank before bed. On his way back to his room he heard the tapping of a keyboard and saw Coraline's bedroom door was open. He poked his head in and tilted his head to the side seeing her up at her computer. "Don't you work today?" She jumped in her seat and clutched her chest turning around quickly to see Logan standing. "Whoa sorry didn't mean to scare you!" Coraline nodded and closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself.

"yes I do work today."

"So why aren't you sleeping and getting rest."

"Well why aren't you sleeping?" She retorted. Logan raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Well I had to take a wicked piss." Coraline frowned and he laughed. "So come on why aren't you asleep?" He walked in and plopped down on her bed. Coraline sighed and spun in her chair to face him.

"I can't sleep, I had a nightmare so I'm just keeping myself entertained."

"Nightmare about what?"

"It's not that important, it'll slip my mind within a week or so." Logan continued to stare at her and feeling uncomfortable Coraline finally sighed and told him. "Fine. I was working in the restaurant and while I was there I caught fire and burned alive. "

_Well that's quite graphic_.

"Any reason why or…..?"

"Just my new job anxiety." She shrugged and went back to the computer. "I'm used to it."

"Well don't be, and you're not going to burn alive at work okay. Your big brother's an awesome kickass firefighter who would save you if something happened. Try to go to sleep okay?" Logan stood up and ruffled her hair. Coraline sighed and nodded and once he was out of the room and closed the door she went back to her computer.

"I can hear you typing you know." Logan called from outside of the door.

"Fiiiiiine." Coraline groaned and turned off the computer flopping down into bed. For a while she could not sleep, but eventually she fell into a dream-less slumber.

On her first day on the job things went rather well. No one in the kitchen was giving her issues. This was a great step up for herself too, rather than be the sous chef she was the executive chef and it was pretty great. Well it was exhausting and gave her a rush but she loved both of those feelings. Coraline was commanding the kitchen and it felt great being the one who was the head of the kitchen for once. During the short break she took she stood outside to soak in the fresh humid air. Outside she saw a girl smoking and recognized her as one of the wait staff. Coraline waved and continued to lean against the wall staring down at the concrete.

"You're the silent type aren't you?" The blonde waitress asked before throwing her cigarette on the ground and stepping on it with her shoe. "You're quiet but when you finally speak you say something super meaningful or important?"

"No I don't suppose I do, but then again who answers a question about themselves honestly?" Coraline replied glancing over to the pretty blonde. The blonde grinned and walked over sticking her hand out.

"I'm Stacy. You seem interesting."

"Well I'm Coraline, and thanks I guess."

"Hmm you're the new exec chef! Great because the last person was a total sleaze ball. He'd grab my ass or any of the wait staff and it was annoying. If you're a cute guy fine grab my ass I'm so for it but at least make sure your hands are clean and don't have flour or oil on them." She said with a shrug. Coraline nodded almost in agreement.

"Right well if I do grab your ass I'll make sure my hands are clean."

"That's the spirit!" Stacy grinned. "So since you're the only woman back there in the kitchen you should hang out with me and the wait staff girls. Friday nights we always go out and party it's pretty crazy but you can totally stay sober if you want to, though sober isn't always totally fun."

"I completely agree with that." Coraline chuckled a bit and nodded.

"Sweet! Well Friday we're going to this new place apparently it is like….off the hook they do pyrotechnics and glow sticks it's almost like a rave meets a rock concert."

"Okay…I would like to go to this."

"Sweet! It'll be fun you'll get to know the girls, we're pretty okay, except Marcy, bitch is fucking crazy." Stacy nodded and was speaking quickly, Coraline nodded along of course pretending she was able to keep up with all that she was saying. "So yeah this'll be cool so you can get to know the girls and stuff."

"Okay, well thank you Stacy I'll take you up on that." Coraline nodded. _I'll have to make my own friends somehow, this is a start_. She thought as the two went back inside to do their jobs. After cleaning up the kitchen with her staff late that night she walked home. When she walked inside and closed the door behind her she froze hearing loud laughter. Coraline quietly walked into the kitchen and froze seeing Logan, James, Carlos, and Kendall sitting at the kitchen table playing a friendly, ultimately shitty and poorly played game of poker. Logan looked up and grinned waving to his sister.

"Hey Cori, how was the first day of work? Want to join us?"

"It went well. Talked to a girl named Stacy, she invited me to a party Friday night and I suppose I'll go because I have nothing better to do with my spare time and it wouldn't hurt to go somewhere." Coraline stared at the poker table and looked around the kitchen, almost as though she was waiting for someone to pop out. "I'll be in my room."

"You sure you don't want to play?" James called as she turned her back to leave. "We're playing for Twinkies, so far Logan's down five packages."

"No." Coraline replied before walking to her room. They heard the door slam and Carlos jumped in his seat. "That was weird." James muttered staring down at his cards. "Does she not like Twinkies?"

"I don't know…" Logan muttered and stood up to check on her but Kendall stopped him.

"Remember what I said? Give her at least a little bit of space." Logan sighed and nodded. He sat back down and continued to play the game but clearly his head wasn't playing. Logan went from being in debt five packages to twenty. He couldn't focus on the game all he could think about was why Coraline seemed distant when she got home. Why she was looking around the kitchen as though she expected a serial killer to pop out. When the guys called it a night and ransacked Logan's kitchen of all of the Hostess treats, he went to her room and knocked on the door. After a moment Coraline answered the door and she stared at him blankly.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, what's the matter you seemed distant or upset."

"It's nothing." Coraline shut the door in his face and even locked it, clearly she did not want to be disturbed and Logan had to respect that. He sighed and held the bridge of his nose before turning around to clean up the kitchen. Meanwhile Coraline lay on the floor of her room, not on the bed. The bed was far too comfortable, the floor felt more fitting for what she was thinking of. Coraline was brought back to a time where she was fourteen years old.

_It was nine p.m. and Coraline had just gotten home from work. Legally she wasn't supposed to be working but she had a fake I.D. card that said otherwise. The girl needed spending money somehow, and being around a father who quite frankly did not care, she was not going to get it from him. She closed the door behind her and was starving, so she walked into the kitchen and felt awkward seeing her dad sitting at the table with three other men. There was a foggy haze above them as the men felt free to smoke their cigars and cigarettes in the middle of the kitchen. Coraline walked past them trying to not be seen but Daniel spotted her._

"_Where the hell were you? It's late."_

"_I was at work."_

"_Oh, right." He nodded and thought for a moment. "I need some cash. You got a twenty?" Coraline sighed to herself and went into her wallet, pulling out the only money she had. _

"_I only have seventeen." She mumbled handing it to him._

"_Almost good enough." He muttered staring at her. Coraline just nodded in response and went to the refrigerator looking for food. She pulled out a jar of peanut butter and took out the bread to make herself a sandwich._

"_Kid is aging nicely Dan." One man said as he watched her at the counter, he said it loud enough for her to hear as well. Coraline shuddered and quickened the pace at which she made her sandwich._

"_I guess." Dan muttered tossing his cards onto the table as someone else gathered all the chips in his arms. The man nodded and licked his lips watching her._

"_Hey kid you uh got a boyfriend? Ever been with a man before?" He asked as Coraline tried to quickly flee the kitchen, but he grabbed her elbow and pulled her back so he could talk to her._

"_No…" She mumbled quietly._

"_Well how about we—"_

"_Hey. Look it's already fucked up as it is and her guidance counselor is giving me a lot of shit. So leave it alone 'cause I don't need any psychologist bills to add on to the expenses." Daniel said glaring at the man. He let go of Coraline and she ran to her room locking the door._

Coraline stared up at the ceiling then looked around the room until her eyes settled on her desk drawer. She looked at the pill bottles and sighed shaking her head, remembering that they were all only vitamins. She banged her head on the desk, then slammed her fist upon it. Before she knew it she lifted her computer chair and threw it at the wall. There was banging at the door and Logan was yelling for her to open it, but Coraline told him she wanted to be left alone.

"What are you doing in there?!"

"I threw my computer chair that's all."

"Coraline let me in, talk to me."

"No Logan!" Logan sighed, not wanting to be pushy and have her destroy her room like last time, he stopped banging on the door but sat outside to listen in incase things took a turn for the worst.


	10. Best Party Ever

**(I know im going about the romance part rather slowly, but soon there might be al ittle something annabellex2 :P and BeccaRawrsATL I know he's so fantastic! Ugh I wish that would happen to me lmfao. Carlos'sCupcakes- yeah last chapter was bipolar, is that bad?)**

Eventually Coraline told Logan what was bothering her, but mostly because he wouldn't stop staring at her nervously and he kept asking if she was alright. She just snapped and told him what happened when she was fourteen years old and again Logan felt disgusted and angry. But this time he was _slightly_ thankful his father didn't let anything worse happen to her. Logan doubted that Coraline would have been able to handle that situation, and he wondered what state of mind she'd be in now if that event occurred. The two had to come to an agreement however, that she would stop going on a rampage in her room and stop throwing stuff around. It scared the shit out of Logan whenever she did that and quite frankly she was only ruining her own belongings.

It was Friday night and Coraline had just finished getting ready after work. The finishing touch was the deep red lipstick she put on her lips. She grabbed her purse and stepped out of her room, and as she walked down the hallway her silver glitter pumps clicked with each step. Coraline walked into the kitchen not uttering a word as she paraded past the uniformed boys in a tight black dress with a cut out on her hip that perfectly displayed her tattoo. Kendall's jaw dropped, Carlos and James whistled and Logan ran after her quickly.

"Don't you maybe want to put on jeans and a turtle neck or a really long coat?" He asked with a nervous laugh. Coraline raised an eyebrow, leaning on the refrigerator door and laughed at him.

"Don't you want to go to work because you'll be late for the night shift?"

"You know those are two completely different things to talk about."

"And yet both of us bring it up." Coraline shut the door of the refrigerator once she pulled out the can of redbull. "Logan I'm fine, it's a club not a church. I'm dressed appropriately and if something happens I'll call you. Okay?"

"Fine…" Logan sighed and run his hand through his hair. "Have fun just…don't get too crazy alright?" She nodded and proceeded to chug the redbull. "Kendall thinks you look great by the way his jaw just about hit the floor when you walked by. Coraline's eyes widened and she spit the redbull out choking on the beverage.

"What?!"

"Just sayin'. Have fun." Logan grinned and left the kitchen. Coraline blinked and finished chugging the drink, she said goodbye to the boys and once her ride was there, her ride being Stacy, the two were off to Mint. Mint was apparently the club she was so hyped up about. It was relatively new and more on the far side of town. The two made conversation with one another until Stacy parked her car. Coraline sat there looking over the club, or rather, the giant bring rectangle. _This does not look like a club, this looks like a rave spot_. She thought as she followed Stacy inside. Low and behold, Coraline was absolutely right. Inside it was dark and there were people doing lightshows with glow sticks and the performances were crazy. The DJ was high up on a platform that was held up in the air by four brick columns in the middle of the building. On the ceiling and completely covering the walls were royal blue curtains draped inside which made it seem like the building was one giant blue tent. Coraline watched as people were gathered around a man by a small table who seemed to be distributing pills. She stopped and glanced at the table, terrible thoughts crossing her mind as she considered just how easy this feat would be at the moment. She shook her head and let herself get dragged away by Stacy who led her to the bar where the rest of the girls were.

"Guys we're here!" Stacy shouted and grinned once another girl, Lana held out two bright purple shots. She took one and Coraline took the other, downing it like it was nothing. "You guys like the place so far?"

"Fucking awesome!" Lana shouted, grabbing another shot for herself. "Have you seen the DJ booth? It's sick! They got all the tech stuff underneath. I can't wait till it pops off it's going to be great!"

"What about you Marcy?" Coraline asked. "Think it's alright here?"

"I've seen better." Marcy shrugged trying to seem cool but no one thought of it that way. Stacy rolled her eyes and ordered two more shots for her and Coraline to down. Marcy quickly ran off to the table that was distributing, and there was a slight pull Coraline felt in her stomach to go over and grab a fistful and take them but she just shook her head and turned to the other girls. "We should probably start dancing!" Coraline suggested with a nod, hoping she could be distracted. Stacy grinned and nodded ,dragging her away from the bar so the girls could dance. The music was great and the atmosphere was fun. Someone ran up to them and started doing a light show and Coraline found herself entranced by it. In the middle of the party the pyrotechnics went off, fireworks were shooting out and sparklers and it looked so amazing. However, the person in charge of taking care of the pyrotechnics put a bit too much pop into his work that night. All it took was a few miscalculated capsules that were far too powerful to launch in order to turn the night straight into hell. A few of the capsules shot into the curtains, igniting them immediately. At first people didn't realize it, they thought it was all a part of the atmosphere so no one screamed, so those who hadn't noticed the fire didn't realize it was going on. That is until parts of the burning curtain fell on them, or they heard the screaming that finally erupted. The flames were engulfing the place rather quickly, and people were stampeding to the exit, trampling one another and screaming in terror. Coraline and Stacy were running but Stacy fell, so Coraline ran back to help her, and then kicked off her shoes to run again. Stacy was separated from Coraline, she was shoved and the two lost their grip on each other, but Stacy made it out fine.

Coraline was running trying to ignore the building anxiety and fear in her chest. She screamed bloody murder when a curtain fell down in front of her, burning brightly and barely missing her. Everywhere she turned these burning strips were falling and she was panicking unsure of where she could run. It was as though she was playing Russian roulette with fire. Coraline quickly ran to the DJ booth that was held up above the room by the four brick columns and hid under that. It was a stupid idea because if that started to burn and fall apart she was screwed. It was starting to become smoky and hazy and she had a hard time seeing the what was going on. She was able to make out some people still running, others their bodies striven about. She wanted to run but she couldn't see too well what was ahead of her. Coraline felt her chest tense up and she coughed clutching her chest and trying to cover her mouth and nose with her dress. The heat was overwhelming and she was sweating as she looked around and decided to chance it. Two steps out of her hiding spot and a burning strip fell from the ceiling landing beside her. She screamed and ran back to her spot, coughing so hard she thought she would throw out her back.

The place was burning up and soon so would she.

One last try. Coraline coughed and took off running with bits of the ceiling falling around her and flames rising up.

"_Is there anyone in here!?"_ She heard voices yelling calling for people. Coraline wracked her brain wondering what does one say in such a situation. She screamed a plea of help and doubled over onto the floor coughing feeling sick to her stomach. She started to crawl, which she realized was better than standing up in the intense heat. Coraline bumped into something and flinched thinking it was a dead body, but quickly she was scooped into someone's arms and was being carried out of the building rapidly while someone else followed close beside the man. When they were outside she was brought to a truck and she was coughing so hard she thought she'd find bits of her lung on her hand.

"_Next two in and out lets go no one gets left behind!_" She heard orders being shouted and she looked up when an EMT ran over to her. The man that carried her out took off his breathing mask and helmet and Coraline froze seeing Kendall standing there.

"Oh shit." Kendall muttered staring at her and quickly looking to the side, where the next firefighter practically ripped off his mask. "CORALINE!?" Logan nearly shoved the EMT out of the way as he felt it was necessary to check on his sister. "Are you okay? What the hell happened?!"

"Sir she needs to—"

"SHE'S MY SISTER DAMN IT!" Logan shouted back to the EMT. Before the EMT could retort two firefighters came out carrying people. _"Mitchell, Knight back inside!"_ Their captain ordered.

"No!" Coraline's raspy voice was barely heard by the two men who quickly put their masks on and ran back inside. The EMT put a breathing mask on her and told her to inhale deeply. She felt her insides burning but the oxygen was certainly helping. While the flames were being put down and the retrieval was coming to an end, Coraline was taken to a hospital for x-rays while her brother continued to assist at the scene.

A few hours later Logan arrived at the hospital just as his mother was walking with Coraline out of the hospital. He ran over to them in his uniform smelling of pure smoke with soot on the side of his face and forehead. He grabbed onto her shoulders and checked her over. "Are you okay?! What the hell happened? Ugh well I know what happened we just ruled out why the fire started ugh….are you okay?!" Logan asked again, taking off his jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"I'm fine….best party ever." She said sarcastically and coughed.

"Doctor said she'll be okay. It'll hurt for a few days but she'll be just fine." Joann said stroking her daughter's hair.

"Apparently they don't make antibiotics for smoke inhalation. We have touch-screen phones and meat cloning but no anti-biotics for _that_?" Coraline shook her head and Logan sighed looking up at the sky as though he wanted to say 'thank god my sister has some weird sense of humor'.

"Alright….well thanks for coming mom, I can take her home now."

"Oh no I'll stay with you guys!"

"What?" The two siblings stared at her terrified.

"Both my babies were in a fire I can't just go home!"

"But I'm alive, Kendall and him rescued me." Coraline coughed.

"And it's my job to do precisely that." Logan quickly said in agreement.

"I don't care, I'm coming! Oh it'll be like one big sleepover!" Logan nodded and the three of them walked to his car. Logan leaned over to whisper into Coraline's ear.

"Thanks for nearly dying Cori now mom has to stay over."

"Wouldn't have happened if you didn't invite me to stay with you I'd still be in Michigan." Coraline retorted, it wasn't in anger either. She raised her eyebrow staring at him and he shook his head.

"That was a cheap victory shot." Logan muttered opening the car door. Coraline grinned staring up at him. "I still won." She said before coughing and climbing inside.


	11. Lovely Day Off

**(Ah I hope this is still enjoyable! I know the whole romance part is going **_**super**_** slow but ..yeah..im sorry I hope this isn't sucking. Carlos'sCupcakes- OHH okay, I thought so at first but I wanted to make sure lmao. I'm very paranoid that way.)**

It was her day off and Coraline had planned on going for a nice run to clear her thoughts and to get in some physical fitness considering she had been putting on some weight. Coraline hadn't even noticed until Joanna said she looked a bit thicker, then Coraline realized her pants felt a little tighter. She growled and the next day she was complaining about it to Logan who told her she wasn't getting fat. Rather now she looked healthy and at a healthy weight for herself as opposed to the lanky frail woman he saw at the airport for the first time in years.

Back to the now, Coraline was not able to run because she still felt a slight pain in her lungs, so she had to settle for walking. She was thankful that the summer months were winding down and the weather was somewhat forgiving to her. Coraline walked down the blocks with no particular destination. All she wanted to do was have a clear mind and expel any thoughts that were going to creep into her mind. A sort of meditation if you will, except she wouldn't stay still. As she was walking she came across the park, one of the places in town she had yet to go to. Shrugging to herself she walked to the park and wandered around. _Not like I can possibly catch fire in the middle of a park_ She thought to herself as she walked along. Coraline followed a path that led up to a hill. She considered being lazy and didn't want to follow the path but something told her that she should just go on ahead. When she reached the top of the hill she looked around and noticed someone sitting underneath a tree not too far from her. She squinted her eyes and realized she recognized that blonde head of hair. She turned to the side and walked over to the tree.

"Hello Kendall. "Coraline smiled a bit looking down at him and Kendall looked up and grinned.

"Hey champ! How are you feeling? Sit down." Kendall moved over in the shade so Coraline could sit behind him. She nodded and held on to the tree as she lowered herself beside him.

"I'm okay. Lungs still kind of hurt but they're much better than that night. Thanks for saving me by the way. I never exactly got the opportunity to thank you."

"Hey it was nothing, can't let my chef die." Kendall chuckled and Coraline nodded with a small smile. The two sat side by side under the tree's shade and listened to the birds chirping while enjoying the scenery. "So what are you doing here?"

"Just clearing my head. I like to come here to just think and enjoy the scenery. You?"

"I was on a walk pretty much doing the same thing." She nodded.

"Hey, how much have you actually done since you've been here?" Kendall asked glancing over at her. Coraline shrugged and shook her head.

"Haven't done much really. Why?"

"Someone should take you around town." Kendall quickly got up to his feet and held his hands out to her. Coraline grasped them and stood up when Kendall pulled her to her feet. "I assume you are suggesting that someone is you?"

"Yes I am." Kendall grinned and started walking, so Coraline quickly walked over and started to follow him. "Where are we going?"

"Well if you're hungry we can have a late breakfast, but I was thinking we'd check out the movie theater, go to some of the stores, there's a couple of things we can do."

"I think I'll start off with that late breakfast, I assume I'll need my energy for today?" Coraline asked as the two started to walk out of the park. Kendall chuckled and nodded, "Oh yeah I'm going to keep you out all day."

So to energize themselves the two first went to a big classic 50's looking diner, which apparently is one of the hottest places to eat in town. The two climbed into a cherry red and silver formica booth and looked through the huge menu. Kendall glanced at Coraline who seemed to wiggle her nose like a rabbit as she read the menu. He chuckled quietly at her and went back to reading his own menu. "So what looks good Coraline?"

"Honestly, everything…." She mumbled flipping through the pages. "It's hard to choose, any recommendations?"

"Well I happen to be a cheeseburger and onion rings kind of guy. But since we're having a late breakfast I'd go with either the pancakes or the omelettes. I'm going to get an omelette actually."

"Hmmm….." She crinkled her nose again and Kendall smiled watching her read the menu. "Okay. I'm going to get those chocolate and peanut butter pancakes, they're just calling me."

"Great choice. Coffee?"

"Please." She nodded and when the waitress came by Kendall ordered for the two of them before she even had the chance to talk. When the coffee was placed in front of them the two prepared their cups and sat in a comfortable silence. "So you looked nice Friday night, you know before the fire."

"So you're saying I don't look good when I avoid near death?" Coraline kept a straight face and tilted her head staring at him. Kendall's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. "No you looked nice after too you always look nice but uh—"

"I know I'm just joking." She smiled a bit and Kendall tried to hide his smile as he shook his head staring at the table. "I know black soot isn't the most appealing wardrobe choice."

"No, but you make it work." Kendall grinned and Coraline found herself becoming flustered and staring at the tabletop. "Thank you." She nodded and Kendall of course just nodded to her before taking a sip of his coffee. "I heard Joanna stayed with you guys for two days after that fire." Kendall smiled knowing the horrors behind her staying with them. Of course Logan was a complete momma's boy who he was happy to have his mom back. The fact that their mom was staying with him and babying him wasn't something he really wanted. He gotten used to living alone and only enjoyed being babied by her when he went to the house. Besides, Coraline was the one that was babying him now by making all their meals.

"She's very…..extremely caring." Coraline nodded taking another sip of coffee. "I woke up one morning to make breakfast and she was already in the kitchen with this whole spread out and Logan was at the table and she was putting a napkin in his shirt like a bib." Coraline started laughing and had to put her cup down so she wouldn't spill it.

"Logan is so a momma's boy." Kendall laughed. "What about you? How did you get along with her?"

"It was fine until she left and said I looked like I was a little bigger. Logan said she meant in a way that I looked healthy, and he was telling me she used to say that to you and him all the time?" Kendall chuckled and nodded folding his hands on the table.

"Yeah Logan and I were seriously lanky kids. She used to feed us like if we were starving kids and eventually we bulked up, she said we looked healthy then and I'm sure that's what she meant for you, because you look great." Coraline turned red and nodded before she came up with her own response.

"Well it's hard to believe you were so lanky you um look great and muscular and stuff." Kendall grinned and said his thanks. Coraline had no problem seeing the muscles on his arms, as well as the tattoos occupying his biceps. _Tank tops are a great invention_. She thought staring at his arms once more. When their breakfasts came Kendall told her the meaning behind his tattoos and Coraline listened attentively while trying not to explode at the sheer awesome which was her pancakes. When they were done she was holding her belly and her head was on the table but her dish was completely clean.

"Wow you ate that like a champion.'

"I know." She laughed and slowly got out of the booth as Kendall was paying. "Thanks for breakfast."

"Hey no problem." Kendall cautiously put his hand at the small of her back guiding her out, and when she didn't flinch he sighed a bit out of relief. "So now so your stomach doesn't explode we'll go on this cool nature walk. They have this wooden path where one side is the Lake and rocks and the other is hills and awesome...nature stuff."

"Alright I can do that, awesome nature stuff is always nice." She laughed and the two walked side by side on the path talking about music and movies that they liked. As they were walking Kendall veered off to the left side where there was grass and flowers. He bent down and picked out a gorgeous pink flower and handed it to her. "Beautiful flower for a beautiful girl." He grinned. Coraline stared between him and the flower in shock and took it from his hands.

"Wow thank you…Kendall that's so sweet." She mumbled staring at the flower and then staring up into his lovely green eyes. She felt her cheeks getting hot and when she saw Kendall start to grin she knew she was blushing. Quickly she looked down and away and the two continued their walk. At the end of their walk there was an aquarium where of course her eyes lit up. "I didn't know they had an aquarium!"

"Yeah, want to check it out?"

"YES!" Coraline ditched Kendall and ran to the aquarium. He laughed, enjoying that happy child-like essence about her quickly ran after her. They ventured around inside the small aquarium and Coraline was sticking her hands in any tank that was allowing her to do so. She touched the back of a stingray and held a starfish in her hands. Kendall took a picture of her holding the star with his phone, and he thought she looked quite lovely. Kendall stuck his hand into the tank with the stingray and pretended to get stung and yelped, which scared the crap out of Coraline. "JERK! That was scary!" She said slapping him on the chest as they got kicked out of the aquarium for scaring the children.

"I was just joking." He laughed and nudged her with his elbow. "Well since we've now been terrible people and have been kicked out, what would you like to do?"

"I wouldn't mind catching a movie." Coraline shrugged. "I'm pretty beat."

"Movie it is then." Kendall nodded and shoved his hands into his pockets walking with her to the theater. Kendall bought the tickets so Coraline deemed it fair that she bought the snacks. The two got what they wanted and settled down in the theater to watch Total Recall. Which had so much action Coraline just sat there with her mouth open half the time watching in anticipation. Kendall took that as the perfect time to throw popcorn and candy into her mouth. Coraline pouted and chewed the food none the less, but she dug her hand into the bag and started to throw popcorn at Kendall, getting it stuck in his hair. He chuckled and the two were throwing popcorn at each other until someone told them to 'cut that shit out'. So for the rest of the movie they sat like two civilized people eating popcorn and candy. Occasionally Kendall would dunk his hand into the bag to grab popcorn and brush his hand against hers. Coraline figured it was on accident but Kendall was partially doing it on purpose.

After the movie Kendall walked Coraline home. "So how did you enjoy your day off?"

"Honestly the best day off I've had in a long time." Coraline smiled and nodded. "Thanks Kendall."

"It was my pleasure." At the door Coraline hugged him and turned to put the key in but the door swung open and Logan smirked standing there in his uniform, he had just gotten home.

"Well hello Kendall, Cori." He smirked at his little sister.

"Hi Logan…." Coraline mumbled.

"Hey Logan. I was just dropping her off."

"I can see that, you two had a good day huh?"

"Great day." Coraline nodded trying to desperately get inside the house and hide in her room so Logan could not tease her.

"Wow, sounds _great._ Kendall want to come in? James and Carlos are going to stop by. We're gonna play some Halo tonight."

"Now I'd just be a shitty friend if I said no now wouldn't I?" Kendall walked in and when Coraline tried to step in Logan stepped in front of her.

"So, check out his ass again?" He whispered trying not to laugh.

"Shut up!" Coraline pouted and shoved him then walked inside. Logan shut the door and walked towards the bathroom. "I'm gonna take a shower, you two behave yourselves while I'm gone!"


	12. Pass The Inspection

**(paumichyy- he what's a big brother for if they don't tease about their sister checking out his friend!, annabellex2- I'm glad you liked it! Carlos'sCupcakes- Oh god I in NO way put your writing to shame, I love you writing and your stories and they keep me so anxious and waiting. But yeah apparently there are fun nazi's in the world that keep them from being silly and having a good time, oh well!)**

The following morning Coraline was at the kitchen table eating breakfast. She decided rather than cooking and going to sleep she would stay up and actually eat with her brother. The two were enjoying their eggs when Logan decided he needed to do some investigative work.

"So you spent the whole day with Kendall. How was it?" He asked before biting into a strip of bacon.

"It was very nice, Kendall's really fun and sweet. He treated me to breakfast." She smiled and nodded then took a bite out of her eggs.

"Yeah Kendall's a great guy. A hopeless romantic if you will." Coraline raised her eyebrows staring at Logan and put her fork down.

"Logan are you gay?" Logan choked on his food and quickly shook his head. "What? No I'm not gay why would you think I'm gay!?"

"Well you just said he was a great guy and a hopeless romantic and the way you talk about him to me is just so…."

"But I'm not gay!"

"Well then….my bad." Coraline chuckled a bit and ripped off a piece of toast. "It's just the way you talk about him you don't say anything bad."

"Well it's because I'm trying to you know…kind of merge you two together." Logan said leaning on the table and staring at her. Coraline stared at him completely confused and leaned back in her chair.

"You are the only human being I know who actually wants to fix his little sister up with one of his friends. Why do you want to do that?" She crossed one leg over the other and twirled her fork between her fingertips. Sure Kendall was good looking, very good looking and as she had noticed before he had a great ass. But those workpants didn't do him justice because the day before the skinny jeans seemed to work wonders on him. Plus he was incredibly nice to her. He'd joke around with her, took her out to breakfast and spent time with her. He was sweet, nothing wrong with that. Coraline certainly found nothing terrible about that.

"Because if you ya know, find yourself wanting to date I… approve of Kendall. He's always asking about you."

"Asking about me?"

"Yeah, he'll ask if you're okay nearly every day. Ask if you're enjoying your job and if I'm being a dick to you or not." Logan chuckled as he chewed on a strip of bacon. "Plus you two get along well and like I said, Kendall's a great guy and I think if you're going to date someone it should be a hopeless romantic that saves people for a living."

"Since when do you decide who I'll date?" Coraline questioned staring at him. Logan shrugged and went back to eating his breakfast.

"I'm not _deciding_ who you'll date, I'm just influencing. I'm not an idiot I can tell you undress the kid with your eyes and I know he thinks you're beautiful and a cool chick." Coraline found herself blushing when Logan said Kendall thought she was beautiful. Now she had that to support the fact he gave her a flower and called her beautiful the day before.

"Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"Why did he call me beautiful?"

"Well that's what he says…. Yeah he'll say other stuff like hot or whatever but to him beautiful just means so much more. Hot's more like 'yeah I'm going to fuck you'." Coraline rolled her eyes and sighed deeply at her brother's explanation.

"Well thank you for telling me what hot means to you guys, but I'm asking why did he call me beautiful?" Coraline shifted in her seat awkwardly and pushed her half-eaten breakfast away from her. "What does he see? Joanna said the same thing too…" Logan sighed and moved his chair so he was beside his sister. She glanced over at him quickly then went back to looking down at her hands and started to crack her fingers.

"Coraline, when they say you're beautiful they mean it. They're not seeing what's on the outside or how you look alone, they're seeing what's on the inside too. Kendall happens to like what's on the outside and what's on the inside. He doesn't lie about stuff like that other the guy's a sap. When we were teens and his girlfriend was so busy with cheer-leading and work and school, he used to go on five minute dates with her. Look even if you don't like Kendall that way, that's the type of guy I want you to be with. Someone who's going to treat you like a princess and call you beautiful, got it? He's gotta pass my inspection." Logan smiled a bit and squeezed his sister's shoulder. She chuckled and nodded and hugged him around the waist.

"I guess I should date the nice guys huh?"

"Yeah and I assume you usually go for the bad guys?" Logan questioned reaching over the table to get his orange juice.

"Well not bad per se! Just not prince charming."

"Oh do tell me more." Logan said as he used his foot to push the leg of her chair so her chair was now facing him. She shrugged and pulled her knees up under her chin and hugged her legs.

"Just the standard you know, drinks a lot, score some pills, come home at six in the morning from a crazy night out."

"My god you're a party animal—WAIT SCORE SOME PILLS WHAT?!" Logan blinked rapidly staring at her and she shrugged like it was no big deal. "Explain to me the scoring the pills part right now."

"Well in college I used to take Adderall so I could you know get all my work and stuff done and go out and party too. The guy I got the Adderall from had a friend he said was a cool dude so after college I met up with this guy and he was selling other sorts of stuff soooooo I'd just pop a few and have a good night."

"And when did you stop doing that?"

"About two years ago the dude got arrested so I really had no motivation to buy anymore, so I went to a therapist and got my prescription drugs. Those worked alright." Coraline nodded like if this was just an everyday thing for her, and it used to be. Logan sighed and run his hands through his hair.

"And the drinking?"

"Oh I just hold my liquor well." Coraline smiled and Logan shook his head and wrapped an arm around her. "Alright well uh…."

"I left you speechless this time didn't I?"

"You really did." Logan muttered staring at the ground unsure of what to say. "How bad was it?"

"Well I didn't do it often because you know, I had a life and I didn't want to sell crack or whatever on the street for the rest of my life, so it was occasional. Nothing a little cold-turkey couldn't fix." The two siblings stared at each other and Logan just shook his head while Coraline chuckled at her brother's shocked reaction.

"Okay! Well, good guys from now on. Ones that have to pass my inspection. Got it?"

"Yeeeees Horty." Coraline sighed dramatically. "Kendall's bad too though!"

"Is he?"

"Oh yeah, yesterday we got kicked out of an aquarium and shushed at a movie theater. He's so hardcore Logan I might get arrested the next time I hang out with him!" Logan laughed and kissed her on the forehead before standing up from the chair.

"Yeah sure, arrested with Kendall Knight for being loud at the movies, definitely. That's about as bad as the kid will get." Logan picked up his jacket and slid it over his arms. "I'm going to work, I'll see you tonight alright?"

"See ya Logan." The siblings said goodbye and Coraline took the dishes to the sink to wash them. She cleaned up the house a bit before leaving to work to start her shift. When she arrived at the restaurant she noticed two firefighters by the side alley of the restaurant and Stacy talking to both of them. Stacy spotted Coraline and quickly waved her over. _Don't tell me this place is burning too am I a fucking bad luck charm_? She thought as she approached.

"Coraline! Hey!" As soon as Stacy said her name the two gentleman turned around and grinned. Coraline was shocked to see James and Kendall standing there with clipboards and goofy grins on their faces. "This is my boyfriend James and his friend Kendall!"

"Oh I know Little Logan." James grinned and ruffled her hair to which she growled and patted it down trying to fix it. "Hey guys."

"You guys already know each other?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, her brother's Logan, as James somewhat said." Kendall said casually draping his arm around her shoulders which made her smile to herself and look at her shoes.

"Ohhh. Well yes James is my boyfriend." Stacy grinned and wrapped her arms around his waist, and he leaned down to kiss her.

"I see that! How lovely. What are you guys doing here?"

"Inspection to make sure the building's up to par with the fire safety codes." Kendall said then he tapped her nose. "Are you guys up to par?"

"Hell if I know that's not my job that's the general manager." Coraline shrugged and Kendall chuckled shaking his head.

"Well then if you guys are up to par and pass the inspection I guess I'll have to take you out tonight to celebrate huh?" Kendall smiled and Coraline's eyes widened.

"Uh er…uh huh." She nodded and he grinned and glanced over at James who gave him a thumbs up.

"Good then, come on time to check behind the scenes." Kendall said as he walked through the side door into the kitchen followed by James. Coraline went to follow behind them but Stacy grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"Oh my god Kendall wants you!"

"I think he's just being um…super nice?"

"Right and this hair color is fake." Stacy snorted pointing to her head. Coraline raised her eyebrow staring at the girl's roots to see if they were in fact fake. Stacy sighed and shook her head. "Anyways, hot guy wants you, kudos girl you should go for it." She winked before walking back into the restaurant and Coraline stood there for a moment still pondering if those roots were fake before walking in. She put her stuff down and pulled on her coat and tied her hair back. As she was assisting in the prep work Kendall walked over to her.

"You guys passed, I guess I'll see you tonight." He smiled and patted her on the back before leaving with James. Coraline bit her lip and smiled a bit as she continued to cook.


	13. Date Night

**(Carlos'sCupcakes- yeah Coraline's a bit doubtfulof herself! That'll change I hope—wait I'm the writer I can change that lmfao. Really? Wow that's crazy, I read about neuroenhancers as a part of an upcoming final and Adderall was one of them, crazy stuff it is paumichyy- glad you love it! Logan's an epic older bro, older bros are pretty awesomesauce, annabellex2- I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE DATE EITHER WOOO)**

Coraline left work that night with Stacy grinning at her and giving her a thumbs up about the night she had ahead with Kendall. Sure she got out of work late and there wasn't much that could be open but she was sure Kendall would find something to do. When she got home she stopped in front of the television set in the living room that Logan was currently watching. He raised an eyebrow staring at her and she cracked her fingers staring at him nervously.

"Okay, what did you do?" Logan asked muting the TV and staring at her.

"What? I didn't do anything!"

"So why are you standing there like if you got caught doing something?" Logan asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well…. Okay so I got to work and Kendall and James were there and apparently James is dating the waitress Stacy but anyway they were there because they had to do some sort of fire safety inspection."

"Alright." Logan couldn't help but grin. Originally Carlos was meant to go on that inspection with James but he switched the names around so Kendall could go instead. Logan was obviously scheming. "So then what happened?"

"Well Kendall said if the restaurant passed the inspection that he would take me out tonight to celebrate and so the restaurant passed the inspection and Kendall's going to take me out tonight." She finished taking a deep breath. Logan smiled wide and Coraline frowned.

"Stop smiling! I don't know where we are going or what to wear!"

"Oh look at that you have girl problems!" Logan laughed, he enjoyed this relationship that was blossoming between them. He got to tease her and she would retort back with a funny or off-color remark.

"This is not amusing!"

"To me it is. Just go take a shower I'm sure by the time you get out you'll know what you want to wear." Logan shooed her to the bathroom and she sighed stepping inside. He shook his head and jumped back onto the sofa with his feet up on the arm rest so he could enjoy his movie in peace. Meanwhile Coraline showered frantically. She didn't even know what time Kendall was going to pick her up and that made her feel even more nervous and anxious. After scrubbing herself clean she stepped out of the shower and nearly slipped on the ground. She ran to her room wrapped in a towel and started to go through her closet like if she was a tornado.

"Hey Kendall said he's picking you up in about half an hour, I told him that was fine."

"HALF AN HOUR!? I WON'T BE READY BY THEN!" She screeched running around the room.

"My bad! Don't worry about it he won't rush you or anything." Logan called back to her. She huffed and removed the towel from her body and wrapped it around her hair instead. She ran around the room pulling on underwear and grabbing clothes. She settled on a pleated black skirt and a red scoop-neck top."LOGAN!" She screamed and Logan ran right into the room like as though her life depended on it.

"What? What is it are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, go through the closet and find me shoes that match my outfit."

"Are you kidding me?" Logan breathed. He ran in there thinking someone crawled into her bedroom window or some masked serial killer ran out of her closet but instead it was just a fashion emergency.

"No I'm not kidding you I have to do my hair and makeup help your sister please!"

"Fine…" Logan grumbled and walked to her closet looking for shoes while she plugged in the hair blower and started to dry her hair while looking through her makeup box . "What about your converse?"

"No are you kidding me?"

"What's wrong with that!?"

"That's not dressy at all Logan come on I thought you were smart." Logan shook his head and tossed the shoes randomly into the closet. He pulled out a pair of black pumps and waved them around until she noticed and nodded. He put the shoes beside her and went to leave but she stopped them. "Wait! " He turned around a little afraid of what his next task would be. "I need you to hold the blower so I could put my makeup on."

"You're joking right? I just want to go and watch Lethal Weapon."

"Okay Danny Glover can wait alright? You told Kendall it was fine for him to be here in half an hour so you're going to help me." She put the blow dryer in his hand and took out the makeup for herself. Logan sighed and let his shoulders sink as he waved it around her hair aimlessly. "Put _some_ effort into it Logan."

"You owe me so much for this." He muttered drying her hair. "This was not what I had in mind when I asked you to move in with me."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know, I thought I was going to have to deal with you bloody on the floor or fight with you when you're all drugged up and high. I expected the worst."

"And here you are helping your sister get ready to go out with your best friend. Funny how things work out?" She showed him a sinister smile in the mirror to which he stuck his tongue out. Once she was done getting ready she drowned herself in perfume then hugged him, to which he yelled and started whining about how he would now smell like a woman. "Wait is this a date or just a celebratory thing?" She asked quickly as she smoothed down her shirt. She was jittery and running around full of anxiety as she got ready and now that she was dressed she felt even more nervous.

"Well if he said to celebrate I'm sure he's hinting it as a date and hiding it by saying 'to celebrate'." Logan nodded and watched her chew her lip and crack her fingers. He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her. "Hey relax, it's going to be fine okay?"

"What if something happens? Like the apocalypse, or a fire, or I don't know, some deus ex machina thing?" Logan's face screamed confusion as he stared down at her.

"Cori, this is not some cheap movie okay? Nothing strange or outrageous like that is going to happen." He stood behind her and guided her to the living room, only letting her stop to pick up her purse. "If something happens, and I doubt it will, you can call me but you'll have a good time. I promise."

"Okay Horty…" She mumbled quietly and sat beside him until the doorbell rang and she jumped off of the sofa and ran to her room to put on more perfume. Logan rolled his eyes and opened the door to Kendall who stood there in his dark skinny jeans, black shoes, and a royal blue button down that was un-tucked. He held a bouquet of gorgeous pink flowers and smiled when Logan answered the door. "Hey Loges, is she ready?"

"Oh yeah she's ready and completely freaking out." Logan nodded letting Kendall in. When he walked further into the living room Coraline entered chewing her lip and playing with her hands nervously. Kendall smiled wide at her and she couldn't help but smile and look down at her shoes.

"Wow you look beautiful Coraline." Kendall grinned and handed her the flowers. She laughed nervously and took the flowers with shaking hands. Logan watched with an amused look leaning by the door. "T-thank you! You look great! Very handsome, blue is a nice color on you." She nodded and looked around wondering where to put the flowers.

"I'll take those." Logan said grabbing the flowers from her. "You two have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." He grinned and patted his sister on the back before he walked to the kitchen to put the flowers in a vase.

"So, ready to go?" Kendall smiled sticking his arm out. She quickly nodded and loosely curled her arm around his and followed him out the house. He opened the door for her to his car before getting in himself, and he began to drive away "Now there's not a lot that's exactly open right now." He said and Coraline glanced at the clock realizing it was almost eleven thirty. "But I've come up with something that I think you'll enjoy." He winked at her and Coraline nodded smiling, feeling even more anxious than she was before. Kendall parked in the middle of a decently lit lot full of wood chips and rocks. Coraline blinked and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Oh my god are you going to kill me?"

"What?!" Kendall looked at her with equally wide eyes. "No! No not at all nothing's open so I have a picnic set up for us." He said quickly.

"oh…..okay." She nodded slowly and got out the car while Kendall opened the trunk and pulled out a large blanket and a picnic basket. He walked over to her and the two started to walk out of the lot, Coraline stumbling because she happened to wear the wrong type of shoes for their date. She huffed and carried the heels in her hands and followed Kendall until they were at a spot high up on a hill which overlooked the water and scenic route they had walked before. Kendall set up the picnic, candles included, and sat on his knees beside her as he pulled out a bottle of wine from the basket and poured a glass for each of them.

"To passing that inspection." He grinned playfully and wiggled his eyebrows before taking a drink. "To passing." She giggled at him wiggling his eyebrows and took a sip as well. "So I hope you enjoy this really girly picnic." Kendall joked pulling out the food he packed, that being grapes, chocolate chip cookies, and Panini sandwiches.

"It looks great, I'm sure I'll love it." She smiled at him and the two ate side by side, sipping their wine and joking around. Eventually the two were lying down on the blanket staring up at the sky. Kendall was lying there wondering if he should kiss her, the timing seemed all too perfect. He wanted to lean over and kiss her but he didn't want to…set her off and make her anxious or uncomfortable, he thought it was best to take it slow. Kendall glanced over and saw Coraline try to hide a yawn. He chuckled and sat up. "Well it is five in the morning, I should take you home."

"It's already five?!" She gasped and looked down at her phone. "Wow…"

"Hey time flies when you're having fun." Kendall winked at her and began to pack up the picnic. She yawned again after she finished helping him and started walking with shoes in hand. "Hold this." Kendall said, giving her the picnic basket. She shrugged and held it, then yelped when she felt herself be picked up. "I can walk!"

"I know you can but you're tired, besides you weigh practically nothing, it's no big deal." Kendall smiled at her and carried her to the car. Coraline found herself blushing furiously, and grateful he carried her to the car, she was exhausted. By the time Kendall put her in the front seat she was sleeping soundly. He drove home and carried her to the front door, ringing the bell to wake Logan up so he could answer it for him. Logan groaned opening the door and gave Kendall the middle finger, then saw his sister sleeping.

"Wow, good date or bad date?" He whispered quietly.

"I think it went great." Kendall whispered back.

"Kiss? Yes? No?"

"…No."

"Idiot." Logan shook his head and Kendall flipped him off. "Alright I'll take her in I'll see you in a few hours."

"See ya." Kendall handed off the sleeping girl to Logan who carried her to bed and tucked her in. He smiled to himself as he walked back to his room, happy his sister had a normal night out.


	14. Orgasmic Brownies

**(Carlos'sCupcakes- AWW! I feel so special thank you! I'm glad you like my stories and I hope I don't disappoint! Ah yes Logan is the perfect brother and Kendall is so sweet and precious! Wordsandwonders- WOO IM GLAD YOU THOUGHT SO! Paumichyy- glad you think so too! Ah yeah kendall that damn cutie wanting to kiss her**

**Oh and I've hit a wall, IDK what to have happen after this. Shit.)**

Coraline felt as though she had this entirely new life.

She had a new job where she was the one in charge, and where she was actually friendly with the staff and had a girlfriend to hang out and chat with, and get dirt on the boys about. Apparently Carlos and James were extremely drunk one night that when James put on a wig for a dare, Carlos nearly kissed him.

But that's a story for another day.

Along with her new friends and job, she had this rekindled relationship with her formerly estranged brother. They were growing closer to one another and were forming a stronger bond. Plus she went on a successful date with his close friend Kendall Knight, who was the sweetest man she had ever gone on a date with. It had been two weeks since their date and Kendall had suggested they'd go on another, so he moved his shifts around so he would be free the entire day she was off from work, however they didn't really get to see each other for very long during the last two weeks since he had to take up other shifts.

Sure she was still dealing with nightmares and crippling flashbacks that would fill her with anxiety and deem her anti-social for a few hours, but she was slowly getting over them with the help of her brother who spoke to and helped her every time she was down. Coraline had never felt so much affection since she was six years old, and everything just seemed unreal. Even though her life was far from it, it seemed like a picture-esque life she had.

It was a Tuesday night and this was one of her two days off, and on Wednesday she would see Kendall. Coraline was currently at home pulling out a tray of gooey fudgy brownies out of the oven. She crinkled her nose when the hot air hit her face and she quickly shut the door, setting the tray down on top of the stove. Logan opened the door and stepped into the house after a tiring day on the job. He smelled of pure smoke and looked exhausted, but his nose started twitching when he smelled the brownies, and he immediately ran to the kitchen. Coraline had her back turned to him as she sifted through the cabinet looking for the toppings she was going to put on top, but it was as though she had eyes in the back of her head. Logan was reaching out to the burning hot tray to rip a chunk out but Coraline caught him.

"Hands down before I cut them off." She said quickly turning around. Logan huffed and moved away from the tray. "That's not fair, I live here you should give me one."

"I didn't even cut the brownies yet! Besides it's for when we go over to Joanna's for dinner with the boys." She replied setting the bottle of caramel down beside the tray.

"Oh come on, caramel too? That's not fair I need one now."

"Go shower and get cleaned up so we could go okay?" She chuckled shoving Logan towards the bathroom an he sighed with a nod. He stopped walking and Coraline tried pushing him but he wouldn't budge. He quickly turned around and assessed her outfit, raising an eyebrow. Coraline furrowed her eyebrows staring at him and crossed her arms over her chest. For the dinner tonight she was wearing black tights with a floral design, black oxfords, and a navy blue three quarter sleeve dress. "What?"

"Well you look nice."

"Are you saying I look ugly most of the time?" Coraline glared.

"No! I'm saying you're just trying to look extra nice because you're going to see Kendall tonight." Now it was Logan's turn to grin and cross his arms over his chest while Coraline's arms fell to her sides and she looked down, fidgeting and playing with her fingers.

"No I'm not…" She mumbled.

"Oh yes you are, how cute!" Logan ruffled her hair and walked to the bathroom to take a shower. Coraline pouted for a bit before cutting the cooled brownies. After laying them across a piece of parchment paper she drizzled them in caramel and sprinkled a few chocolate shavings on top before putting them into a container so they could take it with them. By the time she was finished cleaning up Logan entered the kitchen dressed and ready to go. "Okay now where are those brownies?"

"In the container where they should be, let's go."

"You **have** to give me one this so isn't fair." Logan whined. Coraline stared at him and sighed opening the container. Logan ran over and grabbed the biggest one and moaned as he took a bite closing his eyes. "So fucking good."

"Wow do you want a condom to go with that?" Coraline asked raising an eyebrow at how much Logan was enjoying that brownie. Logan choked on the brownie, clearly surprised she would say such a thing.

"It's good that's all I'm saying!"

"Really? You were moaning like you were about to enter a very tight—"

"WOW! Way too graphic for me to hear from my baby sister." Logan said quickly, while he was holding the brownie with one hand he gently shoved Coraline to the door, who just laughed as she got into the car. The siblings drove to their mother's house who attacked them with open arms and kisses smothering their faces until they couldn't breathe. When they got inside Carlos, James, and Kendall were sitting on the sofa watching _True Lies_.

"Dude Jamie Lee Curtis is so badass. She runs from masked murderers _and_ terrorists." Carlos said, glued to the screen.

"Gee, have a little crush there Carlos?" James teased nudging him.

"No! I don't know! Yes." Carlos shushed him and kept his eyes glued to the screen. When the siblings walked in Kendall turned around first, and grinned seeing Coraline. He stood up quickly and she could see him wearing dark skinny jeans, vans, and a striped white and grey shirt with a blue cardigan. When he walked over to greet her he hugged her and casually kissed her cheek which had her blushing a dark red. James got up and gave her a small side hug, as did Carlos. But when he hugged her he tried to swipe the container of brownies from her.

"Oh no no no, this is for after dinner." She said following her mom to the kitchen.

"Don't I get one for being the shortest one here? No pity?"

"Nope."

"…Eesh. Tough crowd." Carlos muttered. Coraline stood in the kitchen with her mom hiding the brownies and helping to set up dinner. Joanna bit down on her lip as the two worked quietly, but like her son she just couldn't bite her tongue. "Kendall seems to be awfully sweet on you." Joann remarked, watching as her daughter turned red and nearly dropped a stack of plates.

"Oh Kendall's a uh, a nice guy."

"Who hugged you and kissed you on the cheek." She commented taking the plates from her and putting them on the table instead. "Kendall is a sweetheart, very nice indeed."

"That's what Logan said." Coraline chuckled quietly composing herself and grabbing more glasses. "Called him a hopeless romantic."

"That he is. I'm sure the girl he chases is going to be a very happy one." She glanced at Coraline and smiled, and her daughter chewed her lip smiling and staring at her shoes. The boys eventually gathered in the kitchen and sat around the table, with Coraline sitting in between Kendall and Logan. One would whisper teasing phrases to her such as '_Did you check out Kendall's ass today?'_ or "_So when are you going to kiss him on the lips?"_. Meanwhile the other would whisper _"You look beautiful_" and other sweet nothings. After dinner Coraline brought out the brownies and as soon as the container was set down the guys mauled it and grabbed what they could. She laughed at the moans of food pleasure.

"I think I had a food-gasm." Carlos commented. "Food-orgy in my mouth." James nodded in agreement.

"Guys my mom and sister are right here." Logan said glaring at them.

"Sorry Mrs. Mitchell." They said in unison, but she waved it off with a laugh. Coraline laughed at their enthusiasm and watched as they joked around with one another while eating all of the sweet treats. When it was time to go they all said goodbye, and Logan went into the car, leaving Coraline and Kendall to talk outside by themselves.

"So, I can't wait for our date tomorrow. I'll pick you up at eleven?" He smiled staring down at her and she nodded eagerly.

"Yes! That's a perfect time, I can't wait either." She fumbled nervously with her fingers, grinning like an idiot.

"Good, I'll see you then beautiful." She nodded to his response and chewed on her lip. Coraline put a hand on his bicep to steady her nervous self and tip-toed up to kiss him on the cheek. After she did so Kendall looked down at her grinning. "Okay...bye!" She waved quickly and ran into the car where Logan was laughing. She slapped him in the chest and told him to drive, but he couldn't stop laughing at how awkward she was.


	15. A Lovely Day

**(annabellex2—YES THEY ARE CUTE! *happy sigh*, paumichyy- yes I agree, well coraline's a bit awkward but it's adorable, BeccaRawrsATL- aw thank you im glad you think im doing a good job, im trying! And oh yeah logan is so special, Carlos'sCupcakes- oh yeah that brownies thing was nice lmao, and im excited for their date too! AGH I CAN'T WAIT)**

Coraline stood in her room staring at her bed. Laid out neatly on the mattress were three outfits for her date with Kendall and she couldn't decide what to wear. Was she to go with leggings, a super long cardigan and a t shirt? Jeans and a sweater, or jeans, a tank, and a cardigan. After staring at the outfits for five minutes and trying them all, she settled on the last one and pulled on a pair of dark green flats. For once Logan wasn't there to assist her because he took an early morning shift, so she was there by herself waiting on the living room sofa like a puppy waiting for their owner to come home. When the doorbell rang she instantly started grinning and she jumped up from the sofa. She smoothed down her clothing and quickly scurried to the door and pulled it open. She smiled seeing Kendall leaning on the doorframe and looking down at her holding another bouquet of pink flowers.

"Well hello beautiful." Kendall smiled handing her the flowers. "They're not nearly as beautiful as you are right now but I hope they're okay."

Coraline chewed on her lip blushing a deep crimson as she held the flowers close to herself. She smiled nervously and looked down at her shoes rocking back and forth. "Thank you Kendall, you're too sweet." She sighed happily and walked into the kitchen putting her flowers in a vase. When she walked back over Kendall was still waiting at the door frame. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yes!" She nodded and Kendall smiled holding his hand out to her, rather than his arm. She stared at his hand for a moment and chewed on her lip. Her hand hovered over his twitching, she nervously pulled it back on reflex, but allowed her hand to go back to his and grasp it. Kendall gave her a smile that made her insides swell and he led her to the car. When the two were inside Kendall drove to the diner they had gone to last time.

"I don't know what I want." Coraline said with a sigh as she looked at the menu. Kendall laughed remembering how indecisive she was last time.

"Well you had pancakes last time. Try an omelette."

"I don't know…" She mumbled looking through the menu. "What will you get?"

"I think I'll get some of those strawberry pancakes with the whipped cream and ice cream." Kendall replied reading off of the menu, then looked up to see Coraline staring at him slack jawed. "I guess you want that too?"

"…Nope I'll have an omelette. I had pancakes last time, have to switch it up!"

"If you say soooo." Kendall sang," Coffee again?"

"Yes, with caramel." She nodded with a smile and Kendall winked at her before telling the waitress the order for the two of them. As they waited for their meal Kendall decided he needed to see her smile. He wiggled his eyebrows at her which elicited a small smirk. He reached over and grabbed a straw from beside his glass of water and ripped off the top piece of paper, then blew into the straw and shot the paper at her forehead. Surprised she giggled and smiled wide which made Kendall grin. "You have an absolutely beautiful smile, Coraline." She chewed her lip and crumpled the paper as she looked down at the formica table top.

"Thank you." She mumbled quietly. Kendall tilted his head staring at her.

"You don't think you have a beautiful smile do you?"

"I've just been told the opposite before." She said quietly, grabbing her glass of water and taking a long sip until their coffee came into view which she then grabbed and took a quick sip of.

"By who? They must have been blind." Coraline shook her head remembering herself at age sixteen.

_Coraline was desperately trying to impress a boy at school. She had managed to curl her hair by leaving it in a bun overnight, she smoothed down her button up blouse and wore her best looking pair of jeans. She stood in the bathroom meticulously cleaning her teeth. A ritual that took her over five minutes to complete. As she was flossing her teeth her father stepped in and snorted watching her as he opened the cabinet to grab his razor._

"_What are you doing huh? You're taking forever."_

"_I'm just cleaning my teeth."_

"_Why?"_

"_So I can have a nice smile." She muttered bringing the floss back to her mouth. "Nice teeth, nice smile."_

"_Oh please." Daniel shook his head and let out a hearty laugh. "That is such bullshit, if that was the case then everybody would have a nice smile." Daniel looked down at his daughter. "Smile kid." Coraline shook her head feeling embarrassed but he glared at her and she quickly forced a smile. Daniel looked down at her and glared even more realizing how similar her smile was to his son's. Those deep dimples by the cheeks that would make someone want to pinch them. That somewhat crooked grin that could melt any person's heart. _

_Seeing that smile on his daughter made him angry. He wanted a son, not a daughter. He wanted Logan to be there with him in that house, not Coraline. Daniel stared with disgust at her and she quickly stopped smiling and looked down at the sink._

"_That's not a nice smile. That's a shit smile you'd be lucky if someone looked at you after you smiled." He growled before leaving the bathroom and slamming the door. Coraline stared at the mirror and the floss between her hands. She quietly locked the door and sank down to the ground against it hugging her knees to her chest and letting out a soft cry._

Kendall waved his hand in front of Coraline's face as she zoned out remembering that dreadful morning. Concerned, Kendall reached his hand over to shake her shoulder but she snapped out of it and backed up quickly. He watched as she shook her head and saw her eyes become glossy. "Coraline? Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah I'm fine." She nodded and took in several deep breaths to try and not lose her cool in the diner. Kendall frowned and reached over to stroke the knuckles of her trembling hands.

"Hey…you're okay." He nodded staring at her and she nodded back. After a few moments of silence their food arrived, but Kendall ignored it and didn't touch it until Coraline was calm. She fidgeted in her seat and bit down hard on her lip. She looked down at the table and shut her eyes tightly. Kendall squeezed her hand and kissed her knuckles. Eventually she was able to calm down, stepping back from the brink of causing a scene in the diner. "Better?"

"A little." She said quietly with a nod picking up her fork. "I'm very sorry."

"Don't be sorry Coraline." Kendall said and stroked her hand once more. "Don't ever be sorry for how you feel, I'm here for you…okay?" She nodded and smiled a bit, whispering a thank you which Kendall returned with a nod. The two ate their breakfast, Kendall feeding her some of his pancakes. After breakfast he got in the car and began to drive once more. "I had this in mind for a later date, but I think you could use a bit of fun." After driving out of town for an hour he drove down a dirt road which made Coraline wonder if this was the time he was finally going to kill her. He parked the car in a large parking lot and held her hand as they followed the path. At the end of the path was a large festival.

"The harvest festival." Kendall smiled walking with her. "Every year for two weeks. Come on." He urged her to follow him and she did. When they got there Kendall took her inside a large tent to watch a circus act. She giggled watching the clowns perform and the acrobats do their amazing stunts. Afterwards he took her on several rides, her favorite being the bumper cars. "YOU CAN'T GET ME!" She teased as she laughed hysterically feeling like a kid again.

"Oh you have no idea!" Kendall retorted driving after her. They continued to play and Kendall of course let her beat him in the bumper cars. After that he held her hand, something he was growing accustomed to, and led her to a darts game. He shot the darts and won her a large teddy bear. She giggled holding the brown bear and hugged it tightly. "Thank you Kendall!"

"Any time Coraline." He smiled and held her hand as they walked to the various stands and indulged in sweets of the harvest. The pair grabbed a picnic table and indulged themselves on apple pie.

"Are you having fun?" Kendall asked, scooping pie into his mouth.

"I'm having a wonderful time Kendall, thank you!"

"Hey you don't have to thank me." Kendall smiled sweetly at her.

"Well… I feel like I do I just have such a good time with you and…. I've never done stuff like this just going out and..."

"Enjoying life?" Kendall finished, and Coraline quickly nodded in response. Kendall shrugged and reached over grabbing her hand. "Well, when you're with me, we'll enjoy all of life's pleasures." She couldn't answer, but she did smile wide which he made him grin. After spending the entire day at the festival Kendall drove her home. He of course walked her to the door.

"Well, goodnight Coraline, I hope you had as much fun as I had."

"I believe I did Kendall." She smiled and chewed her lip staring up at him. Kendall smiled a bit and brought one hand up to cup the side of her face while the other held her hand. Coraline blinked nervously before closing her eyes. Kendall pressed his soft lips onto hers and she instantly smiled wide. The kiss was wonderful, especially when a 'woo hoo' and cheers were heard from inside. Mortified Coraline pulled away and looked at the window to see Logan, Carlos, and James pressed against the glass grinning and giving thumbs up. Coraline turned blood red and covered her face with her hands. "Oh my god I'm so embarrassed!"

"Well….you don't have to go back." Kendall wiggled his eyebrows and she stared at him curiously. "We can always go look at the stars."

"I think I'd like that Kendall." She smiled and let him drag her to the car so they could to the park, at the same spot they had their first date at, in order to stare at the beautiful night sky.


	16. I'm Not Going Home

Coraline left work late as usual, she was considering switching it up and getting an earlier shift but she wasn't sure yet. Coraline always walked home, and Logan said she should consider buying a car, but she didn't feel like it, she would only use it to go to work and that seemed like a waste. On her way home she knew Logan was coming home a little later that night because of his shift, so she figured the two of them could enjoy some ice cream together when he got home, so she picked up a carton on her way home. After putting the carton in the freezer and taking a shower, she plopped onto the sofa in her pajamas and snuggled up to one of the throw pillows as she waited for her brother to return home.

When the doorbell rang she furrowed her eyebrows for a moment, confused as to why Logan would ring the bell. Then she remembered he probably forgot the keys, it happened before after all. She pulled the door open thinking she was going to see Logan, but in fact Daniel stood there with hands shoved into his jacket pockets. Coraline froze staring at him. Her eye twitched and her grip on the door tightened until her knuckles were white.

"Coraline." Daniel nodded staring at her. "Let me in."

No words could find their way out, her brain was empty and she couldn't even think of what she would say if she could speak. She just quickly shook her head, breathing heavily and staring at him in shock.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Let me in. I want to talk to you." Again Coraline shook her head clutching the door in fear and Daniel growled. Logan's car rolled into the driveway and her eyes darted over to the driver's door that was opening. "LOGAN!" She yelled in a high-pitched voice filled with terror. Logan had already seen the man standing at his door, but hearing his sister yell made him even more nervous. Logan quickly ran over and slid between the man and his sister staring him down. "Can I help you sir?"

"You don't recognize your own father, son?" Daniel asked and Logan's jaw dropped. He hadn't even recognized his own father. He had no idea what he looked like, but it didn't bother him that he didn't recognize him. He was absent from his life and he put his sister through hell, recognizing Daniel was the least of his worries. "What do you want?" Logan glared standing in front of his trembling sister.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Can I come in?"

"Wait." Logan stepped back and slammed the door in his face. He turned around and held Coraline by the shoulders, looking down so he was staring into her eyes. "Cori are you okay?"

"I don't know why he's here or how." She said quietly staring at Logan in fear." I don't….I don't know maybe… I think he wants money or he needs something I don't...I don't know." She shook her head and started to stare down at the ground. Logan cupped her face and lifted her eyes so she could see him.

"Hey I'll talk to him alright? Just …go to your room it'll be better." Coraline nodded trembling. "It's okay Cori just stay in your room I'll come get you when everything is okay." Coraline nodded again but she found herself unable to move. Logan gingerly nudged her towards the direction of her room and she finally turned and started walking. He led her to the room and once she was inside he closed the door behind her. Coraline stood in her room trembling before she crawled over to her bed and curled into a ball lying on her side. Logan quickly walked back to the front door and pulled it open, as soon as Daniel was inside he slammed the door behind him.

"What the hell do you want? You have some serious balls to want to come down here. How do you even know where we live huh?"

"It's a small town Logan, all I have to do is a little bit of asking around." Daniel sat down on the sofa and stared at his son. "You're a firefighter, that's fantastic. Very heroic of you."

"We're not here to talk about me. What are you doing here?"

"I came to get Coraline back." He said interlocking his fingers and leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees. "She's been here long enough, she should come home."

"Last time I checked she's been over the age of 18 for a while now, you don't tell her what to do." Logan said crossing his arms over his chest. Daniel snorted and laughed standing up.

"Oh please. She'll always listen to me. CORALINE GET OUT HERE!" Daniel yelled. After a moment of silence Logan heard the door knob turn and the door creak open. His eyes widened and he ran down the hall to see Coraline standing in front of her room holding the open door. "Coraline what are you doing? Stay in your room…"

"But he told me to get out there." Logan sighed and put his hands on his shoulders. "He's only saying it to prove a point. So stay inside until I tell you to. Okay? Please trust me." He kissed her forehead and Coraline nodded closing the door and slinking back to her bed. Logan walked back to his father, the vein in his forehead bulging. "You don't get to walk into my house and treat my sister like she's a dog that will just answer you when you snap your fingers. Why do you need her back huh?"

"Because that's where she belongs. At home with me."

"Why? She's doing so much better here without you."

"Because she's got a life back in Michigan. She's got bills to pay, my bills to pay. Quite frankly my guys have been asking about her, they miss seeing her around and I'm tired of having to explain to them my dumb psycho daughter tried to kill herself and that's why she's not around. So if she's all fixed up and better I'm taking her back." Daniel shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. Logan rose his fist and punched Daniel so hard he fell onto the sofa.

"You don't get to say those things about her! How _dare_ you!? Your nasty friends that wanted to rape her when she was fourteen, they want to see her? Oh how great what a father of the year award you sick bastard! How can you be so neglectful to a child? How can you leave her alone in a dark apartment for two days to fend for herself at eight years old! How do you let your friends talk about her in such a sexual way when she's barely a teenager? How do you let them stare at her like a piece of meat and treat her so badly? How can _you_ treat her so badly. You wanted a kid when mom divorced you, you wanted a child how can you get one of us and just treat her like garbage?!" Logan screamed. His entire face was turning red and his vein was bulging madly. Coraline sat in her room curled up in the farthest corner of her bed clutching a pillow.

"She's not you! Geez one hell of an arm you got there son…" Daniel muttered holding the side of his face.

"What do you mean she's not me?"

"I wanted you when I split from your mom Logan." Daniel stood up from the sofa. "I always wanted a son and your mom took that away from me."

"SO YOU PUNISH MY MOM BY BEING A DICK TO MY BABY SISTER?!" Logan shoved Daniel so hard that he flipped over the sofa. "Get OUT of my house! I don't want to see you back here again do you understand me? You don't deserve to talk to her, not after all that you did she doesn't need you back in her life to send her spiraling back down. I don't need you in my life, I never had a father and I don't need one now. So get. Out."

"You're making a big mistake there Logan you can't take care of her as good of a job as you think you're doing, she's going to just regress into the crazy bitch she is." Logan grabbed Daniel and literally dragged him to the front door. "Don't you dare call her that again." He threw Daniel onto the front steps of his house and slammed the door locking it. He sighed running his hands through his hair and balling his hands into fists as he took a deep breath to calm down. He walked to Coraline's room and knocked on the door. "Cori?"

Coraline didn't answer the door.

"Coraline?" Again Logan knocked on the door. Logan decided to open the door and check on her, when he opened the door she was not in her bed, and the window at the end of the room was open wide. "Shit." He muttered running to the window and sticking his head out to try to spot her.

"God…DAMN IT!" Logan ran to the living room grabbing his keys and calling up his friends on his phone.


	17. Lose Your Mind

**(sorry if updates are slower than I usually pump them out, in the middle of finals week and had to study all day. GRR there goes my day off. My brain is just…mush Carlos'sCupcakes- Aw gosh really you flatter me far too much! Thank you so much it's really…I can't even describe it's just really touching to see your reviews and that you like the story so much and you're just so nice! Paumichyy- DANIEL THAT BASTARD! Let's find out if she's okay. Shy- hmmm I don't know…we'll have to see! Annabellex2- yeah daniel's a major hole in the ass.)**

Daniel Mitchell couldn't believe how stupid and psycho his daughter was. He picked himself up from the ground just in time to see her crawling out the window in her sweatpants and tank top, barefoot as she braved the cold October air. Daniel watched as Coraline covered her face with her hands and paced back and forth rapidly before sprinting down the block. Daniel smirked to himself, realizing what opportunity had just presented itself to him. He quickly took off following her. Luckily to follow someone you don't need to be as fast as them, he kept a steady pace following her in the distance until she collapsed to her knees in a public park and let out an ear piercing scream before digging her hands into the cold ground. She looked as though she wanted to rip the earth out from beneath her and hurl it to the sky. Daniel caught his breath before walking behind her. "Coraline." She was frozen in place for a moment before turning around to see him looming over her. She quickly stood up to her feet crossing her arms over her chest nervously before letting them hang at her sides. She did this process several times before settling on playing with her fingers nervously. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I came to get you, you're going home with me."

"I don't want to go home I want to stay with Logan and mom." She said so softly, that if the wind was blowing any harder you wouldn't be able to hear her. Daniel threw his head back and laughed before narrowing his eyes at her.

"You're coming home Coraline."

"No I don't want to!" Daniel reached forward and firmly grabbed her arm which made Coraline whimper and start to panic even more. "What happened the last time you left and didn't want to go home huh!?"

_Coraline was twenty two years old and fresh out of college. She had sworn to herself as a life-long promise that once she was done with her education she would pack up and leave and try to find her family. She had packed up a single bag of clothes and a few snacks, then quickly left the house one night before Daniel had gotten home. Coraline jumped into her car and quickly drove away, only stopping at a cheap motel after driving for ten hours straight._

_Unfortunately for her, Coraline had no idea her father had a GPS on her car to make sure she'd never think of leaving him. It was late at night and Coraline was standing over the rinky dink motel stove cooking a pot of ramen with a far too oversized metal spoon. There was a knock at the door and she cautiously crept over to the window to take a peak. When she saw it was her dad she froze and watched him glare at her through the window. "Open the god damn door." He ordered in a harsh, dark tone. Coraline shakily opened the door and he stepped in quickly slamming it behind him._

"_So you think you can just leave me do ya? Think you can just start a new life and you could never be found? Huh?"_

"_H-how…"_

"_I have my ways." He said, walking over to the stove. He realized the giant metal spoon with the wooden handle was left on a hot burner, while the pot of ramen was beside it cooling down. He smirked grabbing the spoon and quickly turned around to face her. "You're my property, do you understand that?"_

"_W-what are you doing with that?"_

"_This is going to be a reminder for the next time you try to run away." Daniel quickly stepped towards her and Coraline's eyes widened as she took off running to her bed to fight back with the lamp beside it. She jumped over the bed and was just about to grab the lamp when Daniel grabbed the back of her shirt and viciously yanked her down onto the mattress. With the back of her shirt still in his hands he moved it up exposing her lower back. He pressed the burning hot metal onto her skin, letting it sizzle and burn her flesh as she screamed and cried for him to stop. "Let this be a reminder." He said darkly, only pulling away when he was satisfied with the skin puffing up in a dark burning straight line on her back._

Coraline was shaken out of her flashback when Daniel viciously yanked on her arm and made her tumble forward. "No I don't want to go!" She cried yanking her arm back. Daniel turned around and narrowed his eyes at her. Coraline slapped him and shoved him away . Daniel tackled her to the grass and she screamed so loud it made him flinch, and so he covered her mouth with his hand. The sobbing daughter shook violently ,completely in panic and kneed him in the groin before throwing him off and sprinting away. Daniel groaned lying in the grass holding himself. He stood up to chase after her but couldn't see what direction she had gone in because she was already gone within the trees. He groaned and shouted into the distance. "YOU KNOW I'LL FIND YOU CORALINE!" He challenged.

"I don't know where she is, what she's doing, or if Daniel even tried to go after her." Logan said in a panic to his three friends who gathered outside Kendall's house, since they were there already. "What if she's dead? What if this was the breaking point?!"

"Logan calm down okay? We can find Coraline there's four of us I'm sure she's just somewhere hiding and thinking. "Kendall said trying to calm him down.

"Yeah, the four of us will split and we'll look for her." Carlos nodded quickly.

"It's not that big of a town, she couldn't have gotten far." James said pushing himself off of the wall. "We'll split up, alright?" Logan nodded, his hands were on his hips and he was staring at the ground trying to sort through his emotions. James and Carlos took off, and Kendall shook Logan by the shoulders.

"We'll find her. I promise." Kendall nodded before leaving. Logan nodded to himself once everyone was gone. He took a deep breath and quickly climbed into his car, speeding around town to find his sister.

Coraline collapsed on the ground once more shaking and crying violently. She picked up the rocks surrounding her and began to throw them, completely losing herself in a tantrum that she wouldn't even remember throwing. Coraline's emotions were overwhelming and she stood up once more, going to a tree and ripping a branch off, which she proceeded to beat against the tree until it broke. When the branch broke she paced in a circle rapidly before picking up a slivered piece and trying to stab herself with it, but the point was too dull. She quickly dropped to her knees testing the broken slivers of wood on her skin until she found one that was able to at least scratch her. She dragged the wood across her arms repeatedly, but that wasn't enough. Coraline yelled to herself and threw the branches away, upset that they weren't really doing damage to her. Coraline proceeded to punch the tree until her knuckles were bruised and bloody, then she dragged her body away and collapsed on a familiar spot in the grass. She tugged her knees to her chest and sobbed to herself feeling worthless and unwanted.

Kendall's first choice was to head to the park, he had known that she was coming to enjoy the park and she found it a soothing place to be. He went through all of the spots he had known he took her too, then proceeded to climb up a hill. At the top of the hill he saw a woman balled up on the ground and shaking violently from fear, anxiety, and the cold October wind. Kendall ran over quickly and the closer he got he could see Coraline lying in the grass barefoot wearing sweatpants and a tank top riding up her back. He quickly dropped to his knees beside her examining her, the bottoms of her feet were completely black and a little bloody from sharp rocks and glass. On her back he noticed part of the scar, and when he peered over to examine her face he could see blood on the top of her hand. Kendall took off his jacket and tried to gingerly lift Coraline into a sitting position, she opened her eyes and screamed loudly but Kendall shushed her.

"It's okay, it's okay sweetie it's just me it's okay." He said soothingly. "I just want to put my jacket on you, okay?" Trembling Coraline nodded and let Kendall drape his jacket over her shoulders. "Are you alright?" He questioned. Coraline stared at him and shook her head before crying once more and staring down in shame. Kendall swallowed hard, he didn't like seeing her like this, he never wanted to see such a pretty girl cry and be so upset. "I'm going to pick you up okay? We're going to go home—"

"No!"

"Logan's looking for you."

"Not there please." She pleaded quietly. Kendall nodded. "We'll go to my house then, I'll call Logan." She nodded and Kendall scooped her into his arms gingerly as he carried her out of the park. He couldn't help but notice Coraline never looked at him, instead her head was rapidly moving as she examined every possible angle to make sure Daniel was nowhere nearby. When he two arrived back at Kendall's house he set her down on the sofa in front of the fireplace before lighting the wood on fire. He stood by the fireplace watching her stare at it completely still as he called the guys to tell them to go to his house.


	18. Unravel

**(Carlos'sCupcakes- HE IS A SICK FUCK! I'm very happy that you're enjoying it :D IT makes me feel pretty damn epic. Shy- lmfao aw that's so priceless! I would have loved to see that reaction, glad you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah daniel's terrible but thankfully she has her boys. annabellex2- thank you so much! And woo go Kendall, the savior!)**

Coraline stared at the fire as though it was a gateway. Deep inside she felt like pulling herself off of the sofa and walking right into that fireplace. To curl right into a ball inside the fireplace and let the flames consume her. She slowly tilted her head to see Kendall walk over to the sofa and softly sit down beside her. "What happened?" He asked with such a gentle voice it didn't seem real. Coraline stared at him and returned her gaze back to the fire, tilting her head to the side and becoming entranced with the flames. Kendall sighed and disappeared from view for a few moments, until he came back with a first aid kit and two bowls of water.

"I'm going to clean you up a bit, okay?" Coraline quickly shook her head. "No? Why not? They could get infected this will help you." Again Coraline shook her head and stared down at the ground. She didn't want the wounds to be cleaned, they felt good. The stinging, the burning pain, the bruising and bleeding, they all felt good to her. "Baby please I just want to help you." Coraline slowly glanced over at Kendall and before she could answer there was a frantic banging on the door. Thinking it was Daniel, her eyes widened. When Kendall arose to get the door she desperately grabbed onto his forearm tugging him back.

"No don't open it please he'll hurt you!" She begged with tears welling up in her eyes. Shocked Kendall quickly sat back down and held her shoulders. "Who will hurt me, Daniel?" Kendall stared into her watering eyes and she slowly nodded. Again the banging was heard on the door and she flinched and hid her face in Kendall's chest.

"KENDALL OPEN THE DOOR!" Logan shouted from the other side. Kendall felt her tense shoulders slowly relax from his grasp and Kendall sighed a bit. "See? It's just Logan, I'll answer it and I'll be fine okay?" She nodded and watched Kendall's every move as he pulled the door open. Logan shoved his way in with James and Carlos behind him. He took one look at Coraline and ran over to her outstretched arms.

"Horty!" She cried and wrapped her arms around him for dear life as she cried and strangled him with her arms. Logan held onto her tightly with his eyes closed, relieved his sister was somewhere safe. He gently pushed her away and sat her back down on the sofa. "What happened Coraline?" When she didn't answer Logan felt himself growing desperate. "Please tell me…"He begged.

"Logan…" Kendall said to get his attention. Kendall gestured to the kitchen and Logan nodded. "I'll be right back okay?" Coraline nodded and watched as Kendall and Logan went over to the kitchen. Carlos and James looked at each other, then at the first aid kit and the two bowls of water.

"Hey so is this a water chugging contest?" Carlos grinned trying to lighten the mood. James groaned and threw his head back, staring at the ceiling and slapping Carlos on the back of the head. Carlos pouted and stared up at James, slapping him on the back of the head too. Coraline stared at the two blankly. Usually she would giggle at the two of them but today she just wasn't feeling it. "How about we take care of those knuckles huh?" James asked, gesturing to her hands, but Coraline shook her head.

"Come on, we just want to help." Carlos said softly. "Please Coraline?" She stared at the two of them and remained silent. James cautiously reached for the first aid kit, watching her reaction as he opened it up and she didn't seem to have one. Carlos knelt down in front of her, realizing the water had to be for her feet which were blackened and bloody. "May I?" He asked gesturing between the bowls and her feet. Studying his face, Coraline slowly nodded and Carlos cautiously lifted each foot into a bowl of warm water. Coraline winced as the water seeped into her cuts, but the pain felt good. James slowly grasped one of her hands and began to clean the knuckles. She allowed them to help her, but only because the burn of the astringents felt good to her.

Kendall checked behind him to make sure Coraline wasn't trying to listen in, then he turned his attention to Kendall. "I found her curled up in the park…it was bad Logan."

"How bad. Did she say anything?"

"No not really…but when you were banging on the door she got so scared, she didn't want me to answer the door. She said Daniel will hurt me, I think he did something to her." He said quietly, which made Logan's eyes darken and he started to turn red in anger. "Anything else?"

"Well her feet are bloody and cut because she was barefoot. Her hands are full of dirt and her arms have scratches, her knuckles are bloody and bruised and uh…I noticed something else."

"Which was?"

"There's a scar on her back, and it's bad it's not that old, but it's a burn scar Logan." Logan nodded slowly and paced back and forth in the kitchen.

"I can't believe this happened. I can't believe he's even here…all that progress…she was so happy and now—"

"Hey don't talk like that alright? She can still be happy and okay." Kendall nodded slowly holding Logan's shoulders, who nodded and closed his eyes.

"Mom's going to be so pissed."

"I don't think your mom knows anger Logan, she'll be relieved." Kendall said. "Come on let's check on her." The two males walked out into the living room to see that Coraline was letting James and Carlos tend to her wounds. Logan walked over and winced seeing the bloody napkins on the ground. James had just finished wrapping both of her knuckles and began to clean the scratches on her arms. Carlos looked up from the ground and asked Kendall for a towel, which he quickly grabbed and handed to him. After drying her feet and cleaning the cuts he stood up and carried the murky bowls of water to the bathroom to dump the water.

"Thanks you guys." Logan said with a nod as Carlos came back to the room. They of course said it was no problem. The four of them stood there glancing at Coraline who was staring at the fire. Logan sat down beside her and she immediately hid her face in his shoulder. "Want to tell me what happened?" Coraline shook her head. "You know eventually you'll have to, right?" She shook her head and Logan sighed and wrapped two arms around his sister. He could hear how erratic her breathing was and he felt her pulse on her neck, and it was way too rapid. "Cori you need to calm down…please try to relax."

Kendall stared at the two siblings before leaning over to Carlos and James.

"You know, you did say we needed to try out our songs on an audience before we tried to be a legit band." Kendall whispered to James. "Why not now?"

"What if she kills us?" Carlos whispered quietly. The two males rolled their eyes and hit him on the back of the head. Kendall ran to his room and got his guitar and sat on the ground in front of Coraline and Logan. Logan raised his eyebrow staring at him and from behind the sofa James leaned down and whispered to Logan the plan before taking a seat beside Kendall along with Carlos. Coraline stared at the three confused and looked up at Logan who had an embarrassed grin on his face.

"Well the guys and I kind of wanted to be in a band since we were teens so…we started writing and working on some stuff, but never shared it with anyone. You won't talk so we're going to torture you with our music." Logan kissed the side of her forehead and Coraline furrowed her eyebrows staring as Kendall counted himself in and began to play.

"I wrote this one by the way!" Carlos smiled playing.

"Carlos shut up I already started!" Kendall laughed and restarted. When he began to sing Coraline's jaw dropped and she stared at Logan so shocked. Coincidentally Logan began to sing next and she let out an audible gasp. As each boy sang she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"_You gotta look far, I'll be where you are , wish you could see what I see. So don't ask why, just look inside, baby it's all you need." _ The boys continued to sing their song, Invisible to the shocked woman. When the song was over her jaw was hanging open and she had tears in her eyes.

"You guys have such beautiful voices." She whispered rubbing her eyes. "Such sweet lyrics."

"And they calmed you down." Logan smiled at his sister, no longer feeling a rapid heartbeat or hearing an erratic and intense breathing pattern. "Do you feel better now?"

"Somewhat." She mumbled hugging Kendall's jacket closer to herself.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Coraline sighed and nodded, recounting her experience with her eyes closed to tell the boys. Logan found himself wanting to leave right then and there and find Daniel, but he couldn't abandon his baby sister when she was feeling this terrible. "Do you think you can tell me about the scar on your back?" Her eyes widened and she stared at him frozen in fear.

"How did you know!?"

"I….I felt it when I hugged you." Logan lied quickly. Coraline stared at him, and she wasn't sure if she could believe him.

"No."

"Coraline…"

"NO I WON'T TELL YOU IT'S NOT IMPORTANT I AM NOT IMPORTANT!" Coraline shoved Logan hard away from herself much to everyone's surprise. She had gone from feeling calm to enraged so rapidly, it hit Logan right in his heart, for he knew she must have regressed. "I'M NOT IMPORTANT! I'M NOT EVEN WANTED! He didn't even want me he was stuck with me! He wanted **you** this perfect child! He wanted a son not a daughter he didn't want a little girl he wanted a boy to raise to be like him and to do fun things with! I was just something to pay the bills and entertain his friends! I'M NOT IMPORTANT SO WHY DO YOU CARE!?" She threw Kendall's jacket off of herself and made a run for the door, but James beat her to the punch and stood in front of the door. Coraline growled and turned around quickly running away from the guys who were now all standing and ready to chase her. She had no idea of the layout of Kendall's house but she ran into the kitchen, assuming there would be a backdoor but there wasn't. The guys all ran inside and had her cornered. She glanced at the knife block to the right of her on the counter, and so did Kendall. She quickly made a grab for it but Kendall swooped in and wrapped his arms around her tightly dragging her away.

"No let me go! LET ME GO!" She screamed kicking like a mad woman. "HE DIDN'T CARE WHY WOULD YOU!?" She continued to shout, struggling against Kendall's tight grip until she just broke down and fell limp. Kendall held her and glanced over to see Logan's whole body tense and wet eyes as he stared at his sister. All the love he tried to give her, gone down the drain. Undone by one man who just didn't care about her.


	19. Don't Relapse

**(Shy- Oh no its fine, feel free to cry! :P Coralne's so lucky to have those loving boys! Oh and please explain to your mom it's just a story I don't want her to beat me up for making you cry lol. Annabellex2- =( poor amazing siblings, paumichyy- Daniel IS a monster, only a terrible heartless human being could do that. Carlos'sCupcakes- Hmmm I'm sure the boys have a few tricks up their sleeves to make everything better, I hope!)**

After coming down from the insane tantrum she had thrown, Coraline was lying on Kendall's bed staring straight at the ceiling. They thought she was sleeping and trying to rest, but she just lay there thinking. For a few moments during her rage attack she was screaming at Logan, almost blaming him for her life and for her being mistreated and the way she said it was killing her.

Meanwhile Logan was sitting in Kendall's living room holding his head in his hands and staring at the ground. He felt absolutely terrible. Logan knew Coraline was upset about not being wanted at all. He knew damn well that if things were different, if he was in her place, she'd have a better life. Daniel could possibly be a different, better person. For now though, Logan couldn't change the past and his sister was miserable and feeling like a last option and he knew she felt it was because of him. In a way Logan felt incredibly guilty. If he had known how things were going to turn out, he would have made the choice to stay with Daniel and let Coraline go with their mom.

"We'll help her Logan, she'll be better I promise." Kendall said quietly rubbing his back.

"She thinks no one cares…. She hates me I know she does and I don't blame her. It's my fault if I didn't go with my mom…if she went with her instead." Logan sighed shaking his head. "I feel terrible dude she's miserable and I don't know what to do anymore. It's my fault."

"Dude come on that's not your fault!" James said quickly.

"You were like what, eight? How would you know how things were going to turn out? Don't beat yourself up…" Carlos said trying to give Logan a glass of water, but he shook his head.

"I just…I don't know what to do. She feels unloved but...I try. I try so hard and… Daniel just undid everything. It isn't fair I don't…I don't know how to help anymore." Logan wasn't one for crying in front of his buddies, but they've all been through that situation before. He wasn't balling his eyes out but he wasn't hiding the tears that were slipping from his eyes and hitting the ground.

Hearing the boys talk, Coraline had fixated her eyes at the open doorway of Kendall's room and listened to Logan speak and be consoled by the boys. She heard him blame himself. She could hear his voice crack, hinting at the fact that he was crying. She could hear a hard breath and the voices of his friends trying to console him. Now she felt selfish, lying there and listening to how Logan tried and gave it his all to make her feel loved and welcomed. There she was, trying to hurt herself and causing a scene while her brother was hurting inside. Hurting because seeing his sister so distraught and a mess made him feel terrible, made him feel like a failure.

Coraline sat up from the bed and slowly walked over to the doorway. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then slowly walked out of Kendall's room and down the hall to the living room where the guys were. No one expected her to be out of the room, since Logan said she usually would stay locked up for days. Coraline stood behind the sofa and leaned over, slinking her arms around his shoulders and giving him a tight squeeze. "I love you Logan." Logan froze hearing her say those words, she had not said that to him, ever.

Well she did when they were children, but that didn't count.

"You love me?" He asked quietly, turning his head slightly to catch a glimpse of her. She nodded and pulled away, standing behind the sofa and fumbling with her fingers.

"I'm selfish. I….I was thinking and then I heard you….talking to them and your voice, and…I'm selfish. You, you show me so much love and you care for me and always take care of me and help me and I repay you by…well by turning into a monster." Coraline spoke quietly and fumbled over her words, clearly having a tough time trying to gather her thoughts. Logan stared at her in pure shock. It was only hours ago that they had her cornered in the kitchen and she was reaching for the knife. Hours ago screaming at him saying all Daniel wanted was him, and how no one cared about her. "I just…I care too. I love you Logan." She repeated quietly.

"I love you too Coraline, you're my baby sister and I will always take care of you." Logan stood up quickly and jumped over the sofa to give her a hug. "You aren't selfish, sometimes we all just need a little help, that doesn't make anyone selfish." He said while keeping her in his arms. "Just….please don't…. please don't relapse, don't let things go back to the way they were. You were so happy, so full of life." He pulled away and cupped her face. "So amazing. Okay?"

"Okay…" She nodded quietly and hugged him. That promise was slightly empty, she couldn't promise to not go back into her shell, she didn't know how she would feel in later dates. However now her speaking to Logan was a huge step, she was trying to pick herself up back from her fall.

…..

It had been one week since their encounter with Daniel, and Coraline was somewhat better. As a part of her 'recovery', she had to go back to speaking with Logan _every day_ to assure that there would be no lapses and that everything would be okay. The night before she finally told Logan about her scar on her back and her experience, to which Logan responded by demanding she get a restraining order on him. It was time to permanently get rid of these issues in her life, and Daniel was at the very top of the list.

To clear her head one morning, Coraline got up and pulled on her leggings and sports top to go on a run. She needed her time to just not think, to run and forget everything around her. As Coraline ran she looked down on the ground, wondering what to do with herself as she was running. Suddenly she smacked into someone and the two of them fell to the ground. She grunted falling over someone and lifted her head from their chest, she froze staring down into Kendall's playful eyes.

"Well, nice to see you too. Just _falling_ for me I see?" He joked with an adorable grin that made her turn deep red and shake her head quickly.

"No! I was running and I wasn't watching where I was looking…I'm sorry." She said quietly, but Kendall just laughed it off. "It's fine Coraline don't worry about it." She nodded and after a moment of realizing she was still on top of Kendall because he was now smirking at her, she scrambled to her feet and helped him up. "Out for a run huh?"

"Yeah just….running." She nodded putting her hands on her hips. "Um…. I would..uh… thank you."

"Thank you? For what?"

"You found me, and you took me into your home and you… and you were so caring. All of you guys were. I don't know how to thank you guys." She said softly, looking down at her hands and now playing with her fingers.

"Hey you don't need to thank us for that, we care about you all of us. You're a part of the family now." Kendall smiled and put an arm around her shoulders. At the mention of her being a part of the family she looked up quickly with wide eyes.

"A part of the family? I am?"

"Absolutely." Kendall grinned and kissed her forehead. "Logan's baby sister, so that automatically makes Carlos and James your goofy big brothers, and me the handsome young man you just happen to be dating." Coraline giggled blushing dark red. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged Kendall tightly. "Thank you!"

"Stop saying thank you! You don't need to okay?"

"Okay…" She nodded while fighting the urge to say thank you once again. She felt Kendall sigh so she pulled away and looked up at him curiously.

"Coraline…I really like you."

"…why?!" She asked, thrown off and wondering what made her so appealing to him.

"You're beautiful! Inside and out, you have these cute, quirky little mannerisms. Underneath your issues there's a sweet girl that I've gotten to know, but I'd love to get to know her more. So… just don't be surprised that I want to keep seeing you or that I help you. Okay? I want you to be able to count on me too." Coraline stared at him and nodded slowly, processing the kind words he had just said to her. Kendall smiled a bit and cupped her face in his hands. "Can you let me in too?"

"I can try…." She mumbled quietly which made Kendall chuckle a bit. "I'll settle for that." He said before leaning in slowly to kiss her. Coraline backed away a little bit as she was nervous, but when Kendall nodded silently and began to pull away, she threw away her nerves and pulled him closer planting a kiss on his lips.


	20. Special Day

**(Carlos'sCupcakes- You're too much! It makes me so happy to see that you enjoy it so much and I really thank you a lot for how much you out me out there and get me views, it's so sweet and I don't even know what to do with myself. Annabellex2- Corndall? LMAO THAT'S CUTE! I like it, Shy- Well I'm glad you're mom said it's fine lol, yeah hopefully they'll get a plan for Daniel, he can't get away free!, paumichyy- yeah coraline is making progress, it's great!**

**I'd like to thank anyone who reads and leaves reviews, they really do mean a lot to me, I like to get feedback when I write and…yeah the reviews really do mean a lot to me. Also if you're not ****Carlos'sCupcakes****' stories, you are greatly missing out. For every smutty one-shot theres a super omega fluffy one-shot or story, SHE'S SUPER FRIGGIN' NICE)**

Coraline sat in the back room eating a plate of macaroni and cheese absent-mindedly. She was currently at work and she was just staring off into space letting her thoughts run rampant. They were switching between wanting to kiss Kendall and spend alone time with him, to trying to think of a way to thank the boys for being so caring towards her and letting her into their family. Stacy sauntered over with her giant slice of cake, a nutritious meal, and sat in front of her. Coraline didn't even notice she was there, she just continued to stare while feeding herself. Stacy clapped loudly in front of her face which broke Coraline out of her daze.

"I know that look, that's either the 'I'm super horny for someone' look, or the 'I'm planning but I'm clueless' look." Stacy grinned and took a big bite out of her cake.

"Umm, I suppose we'll go with the 'I'm planning but I'm clueless' look." Coraline answered, not letting it known that she was in fact thinking about Kendall's perfectly soft lips.

"Of course we will." Stacy smirked knowingly glancing down at her plate to put more cake onto her fork. "So what are we planning Coraline?"

"I want to thank the boys for you know, well, everything that they've done. I just don't know how to do it."

"You could buy them strippers." Stacy smiled jokingly and Coraline narrowed her eyes. "Or not! Well they do like food. You could cook for them!"

"I don't feel like that's enough though…" Coraline sighed stabbing the cheesy noodles with her fork. "I feel like there should be something more but I can't think of what to do." She pouted and Stacy smiled wide.

"Aw aren't you precious?! Well let's see, what can Coraline do besides cooking…You could sleep with Kendall, that's a **huge** thank you." Coraline turned red and stared down at her plate.

"We've never even made out." Stacy stared at the blushing girl dumbfounded. _I don't know how that's possible, I can't look at James without making out with him, shit the girl has willpower_. Stacy thought while staring at her.

"Okay….well you can thank him by making out with him! Now aside from a nice dirty 'thank you' you could cook for them and surprise them with something. Take them ice skating or something, they live on the ice and haven't done that in a while."

"That's a perfect idea! Thank you! When are they all free? Do you know?" Stacy nodded scraping the last bit of cake remnants from the plate.

"Yeah Saturday they all decided to take a day off to just relax, plus they're going to take photos for the firemen's calendar, gets a looooot of money, and then they use that money for the charity Christmas party." Stacy grinned letting her mind wander off thinking of the calendar. "James was June last month….oh man, he was just glistening practically naked in these tight black—"

"OKAY! So we've established the boys are free and take dirty pictures for a calendar. Okay." Coraline nodded quickly, desperately wanting to end the conversation before it became any creepier. "Thank you Stacy."

"Of course Coraline, I enjoy our conversations and grossing you out with details about James." She laughed and got up taking their two plates to the kitchen sink.

…..

Coraline was switching between staring at the road and the directions she had printed out before leaving the house. Currently she was driving Logan's car, and the back seat was cramped with Logan, Kendall, and Carlos in the backseat. Lucky for James he pulled the 'I am far too big to sit back there with two others' card and he was able to sit in the front. Coraline could drive pretty well, she was fine with that, however when it came to following directions she was a bit…off.

"Maybe you should tell us where you're going so we can help you?" Carlos offered.

"No!"

"I don't want to be lost forever Cori." Logan joked and Coraline growled showing him the middle finger before continuing her drive. Eventually the boys arrived at the rink and recognized it instantly. "Hey what are we doing here?" Logan questioned.

"Well, since you guys are so nice to me and welcoming into…the family I thought maybe I could…take you guys ice skating because you're all so nice and stuff to me and well Stacy said you guys haven't done this for a long time so…" Coraline fumbled with her words and played with her fingertips after parking the car and taking the keys out. Logan smiled wide and patted his sister's shoulder.

"This is very sweet Coraline, I love it." He kissed her cheek and exited the car.

"Me too, good job Little Logan!" James grinned ruffling her hair.

"Just to let you know I skate better than all of them, this is awesome." Carlos laughed patting her shoulder and climbing out.

"What about you Kendall?"

"I think it's the sweetest thing in the world from the most adorable girl in the world." Kendall grinned and pecked her lips quickly before leaving the car. Coraline was last to get out, and she quickly jogged over to Logan handing him the keys to the car. When they got inside they all grabbed a pair of skates and pulled them on.

"Have you ever ice skated before Cori?" Logan asked leaning on the railing and watching his sister tie the boots.

"A few times before but I'm not all that great!" She told him honestly as she stood up and held her arms out slightly for balance. Kendall grinned at Logan before staring at her. "Don't worry pretty girl, I'll help you out, I am quite the trained professional." He wiggled his eyebrows which made her giggle. Logan chuckled and stepped into the rink. James stepped out after making kissing sounds towards the two of them.

"He's not _that_ good you know." Carlos smiled teasingly towards Kendall who stuck his tongue out and shoved him onto the ice. "What? Just saying Kendall I'm better!"

"Uh huh, very funny." Kendall chuckled and stepped onto the ice and held his hand out to Coraline. " My lady." Coraline giggled and held his hand as she stepped onto the ice. The two skated hand in hand, with Coraline blushing furiously half the time. Sly little Kendall would use this as an opportunity to place his hands on her waist or her lower back. He would lean down and peck her on the cheek and steal kisses from her. After a little while Kendall passed her off so she could skate side by side with her brother.

"This is real nice of you Coraline." Logan grinned nudging her as they skated. "I like this side of you! Look at you, having fun and being nice!"

"I'm glad you like it Logan! I just, I really owe you guys so um…I hope this is a start."

"You don't owe us anything at all Cori, that's what family does for one another, we help each other." Coraline nodded and smiled a bit at her big brother as they skated. "So…you and Kendall. You two look cute."

"Thank you."

"He makes you happy? Treating you right… making you feel special?"

"Yes Horty." Coraline nodded quickly, "Kendall's very sweet to me, a complete gentleman! Thank you…for pushing us together."

"Well, I do know what's best." He chuckled and hugged her. The five of them skated together for what seemed like hours. They were having fun and goofing around, Coraline even found herself to be goofing along with the guys. Her and Carlos went up to James and sandwiched him in between the two of them, shoving him side to side until he just grabbed the both of them and made them skate with him. She was having the time of her life and they were glad she was.

Later on Logan drove back to his house so Coraline could cook for them, part two of their special day. Coraline made a meal that seemed fit for an army, but Carlos had no problem finishing up any left overs. After thanking her for feeding them and eating everything she made, the boys left after doing the dishes. Coraline decided to walk Kendall to the door as he was leaving, and she walked outside the door to talk to him.

"Um, so Kendall?"

"Yeah beautiful?" Kendall couldn't help but smile as he looked down at her.

"…..So Stacy said I should thank you by making out with you." Coraline said honestly, twiddling her thumbs and rocking back and forth nervously. Kendall threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh.

"Oh did she really?" He wiggled his eyebrows staring at her. "Now what does Coraline think she should do to thank me?"

"…She thinks maybe she could try that with Kendall since they've never done it before." Kendall laughed again and squeezed her face kissing her on the forehead. "Ah, you're too cute I can't handle it." Coraline stared at him pouting, she wasn't trying to be cute, she was being honest! "Well, if Coraline is ready, Kendall's happy to please, but perhaps she wants to do it somewhere her brother won't see?"

"Ummm….my room." She said quietly resting her hand on the doorknob. Kendall nodded and smirked a little bit, grabbing a hold of her hand. "Then I can't wait to be thanked." He chuckled and followed her to her room, and he couldn't help but feel like a teenager as he trailed behind Coraline, who tip-toed and checked to make sure Logan didn't see. Of course, this was wonderful for Coraline, she felt like a teenager, and it was a great feeling for her. Almost making up for a lost experience from her adolescence, sneaking a boy inside and trying not to get caught.


	21. Magic Mike

**(annabellex2- oh yeah, time for some kendall lip action!, Carlos'sCupcakes- Aw why thank you! You're too nice beyond this world! Oh yes, Stacy has the right idea, that one is a smart cookie lmao. Kaleigh- Thank you! :D I'm glad you enjoy the story that makes me feel great!**

**If I manage to get this out today, this might be the only thing I do because I have family over… but Happy Holidays! FINALS ARE DONE SO I HAVE A MONTH TO WRITE FUCK YEAH)**

It was a late night at the firehouse and the boys were stuck working the night shift with a few others. Nothing was happening so far, they did all the checks on the equipment they needed to do, all of the cleanup and inspections, and they were bored out of their mind. Carlos was lying on the couch in the rec room staring at dust particles fly down onto his face. Kendall was sitting on a lounge chair texting Coraline who for some reason had stopped responding. Logan was listening to the radio, and James had just walked in wielding a DVD.

"Dude what movie?" Carlos asked quickly sitting up. James chuckled and shook his head popping it into the DVD player.

"Actually it's a movie Stacy got for me. I lost a bet with her and now I have to do this." Carlos stared at him like he was a weirdo, but when the movie started he instantly knew why.

"OH GUYS JAMES IS GAY HE PUT ON MAGIC MIKE!" Kendall and Logan walked over and flopped down on the couch then stared and started laughing hysterically. "What could you possibly have to do with that bet huh James?"

"She wants me to dance like a stripper so she threw the movie at me." James chuckled pressing play. His three friends rolled their eyes at him and when the movie started they were dying to kill themselves. "This is stupid." James muttered with his arms across his chest.

"Yeah, but Logan could learn from these guys. His moves suck." Carlos nodded quickly in agreement.

"What? They do not! Kendall has the worst moves!" Logan said quickly.

"That is **not** true I'm great!" Kendall nodded confidently in himself. Everyone snorted and laughed. "What's so funny!?"

"We just never see you dance or anything dude." James shrugged. Kendall stood up quickly and looked at his friends before glancing at the television screen. They all stared at Kendall with an amused look as he walked over to the television set and began to mimic the main character, swinging his hips around and trying to imitate him.

"What the hell are you doing?" The four boys turned quickly to the entrance to see Coraline standing there holding a large metal tray in her hands.

"….Nothing…." Carlos mumbled shifting in his seat. She glanced at the movie, and then at Kendall who was frozen standing next to the tv set.

"If one of you guys is gay it's okay, I'm fine with it you don't have to hide it."

"No! We're not gay!" Logan said quickly and pointed at James with his thumb. "Stacy is making him watch Magic Mike to dance like a stripper because he lost a bet."

"So why is Kendall dancing like one in front of the three of you?" She questioned tilting her head to the side.

"They said I couldn't dance or anything and I was proving the wrong." Coraline nodded slowly at Kendall then shook her head.

"Well anyways, I know you guys are here late so I brought over a lasagna—"

"SCORE FOOD!" Carlos jumped over the sofa and delicately took the tray from her, "Oh man it's still hot!" He then ran over to the table and set it down , peeling back the tin foil and sniffing the aroma. James grinned and walked over to get a piece, as did Logan while Kendall walked over to her. "Hello, stripper." She joked smiling just a bit. Kendall laughed and draped an arm around her shoulders.

"You're a little joker now, aren't you?"

"I like to think I just have good timing." She smiled a bit playing with her fingertips and Kendall smiled wide, kissing her cheek and walking over to the table dragging her. "I think you have good timing too."

"OH yeah great timing, she walks in on you trying to mimic a stripper. Better than last time when Logan was pole dancing!" James snorted walking back to the rec room from the kitchen with a few utensils and plates, dropping them onto the table. As he began to cut a piece for everyone she glanced over to Logan who was shaking his head looking at the table.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure ya do, I threw monopoly money at you and called you a dirty slut!" Carlos laughed taking a plate from James and digging in to the food.

"So….Kendall wants to dance like a stripper and you pole dance…. "Coraline said slowly, nodding to herself as though she was processing these thoughts. "Well, okay then."

"Cori I'm really not gay."

"Whatever you say Horty." She giggled and stuck her fork into a slice of lasagna while Logan pouted and ate quietly. After a few bites of his lasagna Kendall put down his plate and glanced at Coraline.

"So, Coraline I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure Kendall, what's on your mind?" She questioned as she kept her eyes on the plate, focusing on cutting perfect little bite size pieces of her slice of lasagna. He stared at her for a second, amused at how she ate her food before asking his question. "Well I wanted to know if you'd be my date for the upcoming charity ball." Coraline smiled and looked down at her plate pushing straggling bits of food around and shifting in her seat.

"I'd love to be your date for the upcoming charity ball." She grinned happily. "When is it, what's the charity?"

"December 13th, this year we're doing the toys for tots drive." Kendall nodded then glanced over at Carlos. "Carlos over there is going to be our ethnic Santa."

"Aw that's so cute!" Coraline smiled.

"Yeah he's the only one that's short enough for the suit we have." James laughed and Carlos responded by hitting him on the arm.

"So yeah everyone has to bring a toy, plus we're selling those calendars the firehouse did." Logan added. Coraline nodded and finished eating her plate of food.

"Well I'd love to go! Now I have a date." She smiled a lot glancing at Kendall who shot her a wink. She got up grabbing the plates from the boys. "I'll take these to the sink." She said before scurrying off to clean up. All the boys couldn't help but notice a little bounce in her step.

"See that Logan? I think she's doing better." James commented watching her leave.

"Yeah she's doing a lot better…I'm glad Daniel didn't ruin everything completely. Things are shaping up you know? Her restraining order is getting processed, she's all….happy and cooking and has a girlfriend, although I don't know how great Stacy's going to be for her. "Logan laughed jokingly at James.

"Hey! Stacy's a good girl!"

"When some woman bought the last pair of shoes she wanted at the mall last year she tripped the lady on the escalator and took the shoes bro."

"….That's different."

While Logan and James were joking back and forth about how _lovely_ of an influence Stacy would be on Coraline, Kendall snuck away to the kitchen. He leaned against the doorframe for a moment with his arms across his chest. He watched as Coraline hummed to herself as she did the dishes, and she seemed to be humming the very song the boys sang to her only weeks before. Kendall looked around to make sure no one in the firehouse was around. He quietly walked over and snaked his arms around her waist which made her jump and yelp in surprise.

"Hey there." Kendall said quietly staring her down.

"Hi…" She replied a bit shyly and chewing her lip with the biggest smile on her face.

"You know…." Kendall removed one hand from her wait to grab the dish towel and dry her hands. "I really liked how you thanked me a while ago."

"Did you? I liked it too." She smiled wide and Kendall nodded as he tossed the dish towel to the side and put his hands back around her waist. He laughed when he saw Coraline tip toe to look around and make sure no one was watching them, then he lowered his lips onto hers and the two began a steamy make out session as though they were teenagers. Logan walked into the kitchen with Carlos to grab a drink and his jaw dropped.

"OH MY GOD…STOP…THAT!" Logan said with wide eyes. The two separated quickly and Coraline turned dark red, hiding her face in Kendall's chest. "OH my god…that….was…oh my god." Logan said in complete shock.

"Dude you set them up you knew this would happen." Carlos said with a laugh.

"But…it's here and I can see them and It's…weird!"

"Sorry Logan!" Coraline mumbled into Kendall's chest, hiding her face completely. Kendall looked down at her and laughed wrapping his arms around her. "Sorry Loges, I won't make out with your sister anymore."

"Good uhm… good." Logan nodded and didn't even get a drink, all he did was walk away think of how his best friend was making out with his little sister, and it just now set in on him that the two were together. It didn't dawn on him before when he'd see Kendall sneak a peck on her lips or hug her, but now seeing their tongues n a battle royale, the realization hit him and it was….weird.


	22. The Main Event

**(Shy- I DON'T MIND JAMES DANCING AS A STRIPPER AT ALL! Man, how good would that be? Mm I don't know if Logan will break them up, he can't risk making his sister unhappy! Annabellex2- Magic James, that'd be nice ;D Happy Holidays, ElizabethMaslowBTR- thank you I'm glad you think so! Carlos'sCupcakes- I am a happy camper too, I figured we could do with a few nice chapters to balance out the last few kind of fucked up chapters right?)**

Coraline sat in Stacy's apartment with her eyes closed sitting on a stool. Stacy was applying makeup to Coraline and rocking out to Christmas music. The two decided they would get ready together and arrive together; the two girls had to stick together after all. After her makeup was done she slid off the stool and grabbed her dress going to the bathroom.

"So what toy did you bring?" Stacy asked sipping her wine and skipping over to her room to get ready.

"I bought a puzzle set, a race car set, and a teddy bear." Coraline called out while slipping into her white evening dress. After slipping on her bright red pumps she stood up just as Stacy exited the room in her bright red dress. "Wow you look like an angel Coraline!"

"Aw, thank you Stacy, you look lovely." Stacy said her thanks and ran over to the mirror looking herself over. "Yeah I totally look fuckable tonight."

"Um, what?"

"Oh just trying to get laid that's all." Stacy smiled and grabbed her winter coat, pulling it on and helping Coraline with hers. The two girls grabbed their stacks of presents and hurried over to Stacy's car, yelping at how cold the Minnesota air was. They sighed of relief when they were in the car and cranked the heat up, that one minute run to the car was just too cold. The girls listened to Christmas music quietly as they traveled to the party hall they had rented for such an event. When the girls arrived Coraline marveled at how the trees were lit up along the path to the main entrance. The girls ran over to escape the cold and set their presents at the donation table, which was overflowing with gifts. After checking their coats they went inside to find their boys, but Stacy became distracted.

"Oh my gosh the calendars!" She ran over to a table that was selling the calendars and picked one up leafing through it until she found her lover boy. "Oh god…James in July…" She fanned herself and showed Coraline the photo of James wearing the pants from his suit, boots, and soaking wet as he stood behind a fire hydrant with a wrench with water shooting out. "Look at him, glistening and beautiful."

"Very nice." Coraline nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable for looking at Stacy's boyfriend in a sexy calendar. Stacy giggled and continued to leaf through. "Oh here's Carlos for October…" Carlos was wearing his pants along with the jacket completely open showing his bare chest, he was leaning back against the fire truck with a leg propped up and looking off to the side. "Oh your brother for December—Woah kudos to Logan. Dude your brother's got it going on take a look."

"I don't think I want to see a picture of my brother trying to be sexy." Coraline answered shifting uncomfortably. Stacy rolled her eyes and shoved the calendar in her face, forcing Coraline to see her shirtless, glistening brother with a red bow around his neck holding an axe on his shoulder next to a chopped down Christmas tree. "Please remove that, I don't want to see a sexy version of my brother it's quite creepy."

"Fine fine…"Stacy muttered and leafed through until a satisfying grin came onto her face. "Well, I found your lover boy." She showed the calendar to Coraline one final time. It was the month of February and that was Kendall's month. He was leaning against the brick wall of the firehouse wearing the work pants with the straps resting on his shoulders. He had his helmet tilted forward and he was holding a small red heart shaped box over his heart and staring right at the camera. "You're quiet, I take that as a good thing." Stacy chuckled and put the calendar down.

"Well…he looks great. Very nice." Coraline nodded and couldn't help but let her gaze linger at the now closed calendar, remembering just how good Kendall looked.

"Speaking of looking great.." Stacy smirked and gestured behind Coraline. When she turned around she smiled seeing Kendall walk over in a black suit with a red shirt, black tie, and a black fedora. "Have fun with that." Stacy sang as she scurried away to find her own boy-toy. Kendall stood in front of Coraline and grinned.

"Well well well, someone looks absolutely stunning tonight." He commented looking Coraline over and giving a nod of approval. "Absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you Kendall." Coraline smiled and nervously began to play with her fingertips. She looked over his outfit and smiled a bit looking down at her hands. "You look extremely handsome."

"Why thank you my lady." He pulled apart her fumbling hands by wrapping his own around them and pulling her close to him. Kendall leaned down and kissed her softly before pulling away. "I know you'd like to say hi to Logan, but I was wondering if I could introduce you to someone first?" Kendall asked as he rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles.

"Oh um, okay well sure." Coraline nodded and followed Kendall as he gently tugged on her hand and guided her further into the party. She could see Stacy had found James and the two were making out in a corner of the room. She could also see that Jones guy with a punch bowl over his head, always a lovely site. Kendall's walking slowed down a bit and she could see they were coming up to two women. The older one with reddish hair was wearing a black dress, while the younger one wore a lovely red dress.

"Coraline, I'd like you to meet my mom Jennifer, and my little sister Katie." He smiled and gestured to each of them and Coraline blinked at Kendall before slowly turning to face them.

"H-hi. Nice to meet you." She greeted nervously as she shoved her hand forward to shake theirs . Jennifer smiled and shook her hand, "It's nice to meet you too Coraline, Kendall talks so much about you."

"Oh…r-really?" She glanced up at Kendall nervously before turning to shake his little sister's hand.

"Don't worry, it's only nice stuff." Katie said, sensing that this incredibly nervous woman would probably have a panic attack in the next few minutes. Coraline nodded and looked down at her hands as she nervously twiddled her thumbs. "So you're his girlfriend?" Coraline fought back a shrug as she glanced up at Kendall. He chuckled and smiled wide as he wrapped two arms around her.

"Yeah Katie she's my girlfriend. Beautiful isn't she?"

"Very." Jennifer smiled and Coraline found herself blushing. Sensing that his girlfriend wasn't going to be very talkative anytime soon, he decided it was time to go. "Well I'll talk to you guys later okay? We're going to go find her brother."

"Well okay, it was nice meeting you!" Jennifer said as the two walked away and Coraline was finally able to breathe normally.

"Your whole family is pretty." She said as they searched for Logan, which made Kendall laugh.

"Thank you, so is yours." He kissed the side of her forehead and walked her over to Logan who was talking to the event's Ethnic Santa. "I believe this belongs to you." Kendall said as Coraline scurried over to Logan and gave him a tight hug.

"Hey Cori! Wow you look beautiful…. Keep an eye on her got it? Jones has been on his annual drinking binge."

"Got it." Kendall nodded and watched as the two siblings complimented each other and talked for a bit. Then Coraline continued to talk to Carlos, saying he was a great ethnic Santa. Carlos would laugh and say his thanks before leaving to change out of the suit and walk around normally.

"Now, I believe I've earned myself a dance?" Kendall stuck his hand out to her and she nodded with a smile. After waving to her brother she let Kendall lead her to the dance floor where he wrapped one arm around her waist while the other held her hand. The two swayed along to the slow music taking in each other's scents and enjoying one another's company. Coraline closed her eyes and let her head rest against his chest as they danced.

"Kendall this is great…this whole event is so nice and I'm enjoying my time with you." She said as she pulled her head away to stare up at him. Kendall smiled and pulled her even closer to him, "I'm enjoying my time with you as well Coraline." He leaned down and kissed her softly. The two were lost with one another until James ran over and tapped Kendall on the shoulder. Kendall groaned into Coraline's mouth which made her giggle and pool away.

"Sorry dude but Jones is about to start stripping and dance like a madman and you gotta help me talk him down from being well, disgusting."

"Fine…you wait right here, I'll be back for you." Kendall smiled and pecked her quickly as he walked away with James. Coraline smiled wide to herself and twiddled her thumbs, staring at the ground before deciding she'd go wait with Logan. When she lifted her head to walk away Coraline's heart stopped as she stared at Daniel wearing a button down shirt and slacks.

"Coraline, we meet again." He said as he looked her over. "Let's go."

"N-no.." She said quickly with the shake of her head. Although he hated her, he knew his daughter, and knew she wouldn't make a scene at such a lovely place. He grabbed her elbow and tugged on it harshly urging her out the door.

"I don't care what you say you're not getting away this time." He began to tug her out of the event as discreetly as possible while Coraline tugged and tugged, looking around for someone she knew to help her.


	23. Why Do You Love a Psycho Girl?

**(paumichyy- aw I thought kendall and cori were cute too! Hopefully someone sees her and Daniel before the worst happen. Carlos'sCupcakes- Aw no I'd never want to be the one responsible for stopping your world from spinning! Lmao I guess we'll just have to see how this chapter goes now won't we! PerfectPiranha- I'm glad you enjoy the story that makes me so happy! OH yes there is a lot of stripping for some reason, these boys have some secret desires lmao. Wordsandwonders- lol I'm sorry, I had the need for a cliff-hanger, merry Christmas to you too!)**

Daniel's grip on Coraline was painfully tight as he pulled her out of the party hall and outside to the cold December air. The entire journey from the middle of the dance floor to the doors was full of panic and worry as her eyes searched frantically for one of the boys. Coraline's eyes zoned in on Stacy who while sipping her glass of champagne spotted Coraline and waved. Coraline raised a hand and flailed wildly mouthing 'help me' to her, which made Stacy's eyes bulge out of her head. She tip-toed up to see who was dragging Coraline away, and realizing she didn't recognize the man she took off running to find the boys.

Stacy found Carlos as he was leaving the bathroom and adjusting his tie. She ran over to him and gripped his arms with wide eyes. "Woah Stacy are you okay?"

"Coraline's being dragged out of here by some older guy and she was freaking out!" Carlos' eyes widened, he realized Daniel must have gotten in and out because with so many people around, it would just be far too easy.

"Okay Stacy go find the guys tell them what you just told me, I'll go find her." She nodded and took off running after taking her heels off so she could run even faster. Carlos meanwhile weaved through the crowd of happy people as he made his way to the door.

Meanwhile outside Daniel tugged on Coraline so viciously she tumbled forward into the snow, instantly shivering as the snow hit her skin. She was only wearing her dress and shoes ,and if her body wasn't already trembling from the terrifying situation, she'd be trembling from the temperature. "Get up you clumsy bitch I don't have time to waste!" He hissed pulling her to her feet and Coraline pushed herself away from him trying to get away.

"No let me go I am not going back!" She yelled punching and hitting him. Angry and impatient, Daniel smacked her across the face so hard she fell back into the snow. Coraline sniffled and crawled away a few steps before getting up to run. He wrapped his arm around her waist before she could run and yanked her back. Coraline cried out and clawed at his arm, kicking her legs in the air trying to free herself. Nervous that someone heard her and was going to come outside he quickly dragged her to the side of the building just as Carlos shoved the two double doors wide open and stepped outside

"Coraline!?" He called out into the cold December air. She was about to scream but Daniel put his hand over her mouth and pushed the two of them against the wall, whispering into her ear. "You shut the fuck up do you understand me? They're not taking you away again you're coming home and that's it." He growled into her ear and Coraline's body shook violently with fear. She put her legs up against the wall and tried to push off of it to get away but he held her tightly. Carlos stepped forward looking around to see if he could spot anyone, while Daniel started to drag Coraline away as quietly as he could. Carlos looked down and tried to see if he could find a set of footprints that were going away from the party hall, and he found kicked up snow leading to the side of building.

Daniel was having too hard of a time trying to leave quick enough through the snow while restraining his troublesome daughter. He quickly undid his tie and tied it around her mouth before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of handcuffs. After slapping them on her he heaved her over his shoulder and took off running as best as he could, while Coraline kicked her bright red shoes into the snow as a way of leaving a trail, should the snow tracks become too muddled to follow.

As Carlos was making his way around the side of the building Kendall, Logan, and James ran out and yelled for Carlos. After hearing his voice and running to him they followed the tracks in the snow until they saw Daniel far in the distance. Logan growled and took off running, as did the three other gentlemen. They jumped over her red pumps in the snow and continued running. The closer they got the louder their breathing and footsteps became, which made Daniel turn around to face them. "DANIEL LET HER GO!" Logan screamed as he pumped his legs harder to get to them faster. Realizing he couldn't outrun them Daniel quickly put her down and held her in front of him as the boys got closer. They stopped only a few feet in front of him breathing heavily. Coraline was shivering and her body felt numb from the cold, sobbing out Logan's name through her gag which made his heart break.

"I said she's not staying, and she isn't. Coraline is coming home and you won't stop me."

"You're sick." Kendall spat staring him down. "You're sick for treating her the way you do, you're sick for thinking you have control over her that way and kidnapping her. There's something wrong with you Daniel you need help."

"I need help? You're the one in love with a psycho girl." Daniel teased, shaking his daughter by her hair. Logan tensed up and stepped forward slowly, while Daniel took a step back dragging her. He glanced at his sister who stared back with fearful eyes. He slowly made a notion with his head that looked like a nod except his head was going further back rather than forward. Trembling, she sniffled and nodded quickly before throwing her head back and nailing Daniel in the nose. With his eyes closed and distracted Logan reached forward pulling Coraline away while Carlos and James tackled Daniel into the snow and proceeded to beat him until he stopped trying to fight them off. They restrained him in the snow.

Kendall slid off his blazer and draped it around Coraline's shoulders while Logan took the tie off of her. He turned her face to the side and saw a large red handprint on the side of her face and felt his blood boil as he looked over her shoulder to see James and Carlos pinning Daniel face down into the snow. She sniffled and Logan returned his focus back to her hugging her tightly and holding her head to his chest. "You're okay Cori. You're absolutely fine nothing will happen anymore, you're safe now." He murmured soothing words into her ear while Kendall rubbed her back and glanced down to see her hands still cuffed behind her back.

"See if he has keys for the cuffs." He said to James and Carlos, who searched him until they found the keys in his back pocket. After catching the keys tossed from James he removed the cuffs and her hands immediately flew up to wrap around Logan while Kendall took those cuffs and used them to restrain Daniel. Logan picked her up and held her tightly and close to himself to offer comfort and to warm her, while the guys dragged Daniel back to the party hall to wait outside. Kendall quickly ran in and grabbed the attention of two of the officers attending the ball, who went outside and arrested Daniel and they soon took him to the police station.

…

The following day Coraline was sitting upright in bed, with Kendall fast asleep with his head on her lap while Logan had his head on her shoulder as he slept. She didn't want to be alone, and she needed the two men that cared most about her, but they weren't the only ones that stayed. James and Carlos stayed as well to offer comfort, Stacy joined as well, because they all cared.

Even though she felt safe with the two boys beside her, Coraline wasn't able to sleep, and she stood up the entire night just staring ahead of her and trying to calm down, and not freak out about what had just happened. Logan awoke first and stretched after pulling away from her. "How are you Cori?"

"Fine…" She murmured and rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair gently. "I'm sorry that happened, I didn't see him there I didn't know-"

"It's fine Logan, no one knew he would show up. " She said quietly. "What's important is that nothing happened, and you guys found me." She said with her eyes closed, desperately trying to keep her composure. Logan nodded and squeezed her tightly. "I'll go make you breakfast, okay princess?"

"Okay…" She mumbled quietly watching Logan leave, still dressed from last night, into the kitchen. She glanced over at Kendall who was awake the entire time, trailing his fingers along her leg to distract her from the pain of yesterday's ordeal. She glanced down and chewed her lip staring at Kendall who smiled at her and sat up.

"Hey Coraline." He said so softly it was practically a whisper. She mumbled a hello and he wrapped his arms around her kissing both of her eyelids after she closed her eyes. "You're okay, I hope you know that."

"I know… but Daniel said something last night." She mumbled quietly.

"The comment he said to me?" Kendall asked, dragging his fingers gently over her cheek until they settled underneath her chin so he could lift her face up and peck her lips softly.

"He was right. Why do you like a psycho girl?"

"I don't like a psycho girl." Kendall whispered. "I absolutely adore a beautiful sweet girl who just has a few troubles in life, but everyone has their issues." He kissed her cheek and nuzzled her. "You aren't psycho, Coraline. You're wonderful, special, an amazing woman who is incredibly strong, because she's able to deal with so many struggles in life and still manages to carry on." Coraline blinked back her tears and stared at Kendall who smiled.

"I guess I'm pretty awesome huh?" His smile grew and he laughed loudly hugging her tightly.

"Absolutely, extremely awesome!" He picked her up into his arms and placed a pure loving kiss to her forehead. "My extremely awesome girlfriend." He whispered kissing her before carrying her into the kitchen so she could enjoy breakfast with her adoring boyfriend, her superhero brother, her girlfriend, and her other two, protective goofball brothers.

**(GUYS HALP- i don't know if I should end it here or what. I mean, did it seem like a good end and just do the Epilogue? Or like a few more chapters? II'M STUCK)**


	24. Christmas Love

**(annabellex2- nothing but good times ahead for Cori, Kendall, and the boys :D, PerfectPiranha- hmm that is an interesting point that Daniel said love and Kendall said like, I wonder if Cori will notice and let it freak her out with paranoia! Aw thank you, you're so sweet that really means a lot to me! Paumichyy- WOO glad ya love it! Shy- You're cousins?! THAT'S AWESOME! I don't know for some reason as mean as Daniel is I couldn't kill him o.O I have weird morals. Carlos'sCupcakes- Perhaps I'll pump out a few more…depends on if something clicks in the head or not! **

**Now, as a message to all of you, and anyone who reads that I don't know of MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope you get what your hearts desire+hot chocolate. Because hot chocolate is just great.)**

**Christmas Eve**

Coraline was pacing back and forth in her bedroom and nervously twiddling her thumbs. Tonight she and Logan were going to their mother's house to have dinner, and the boys were joining them, as their usual ritual. She had just finished getting ready, and she was wearing leggings and a cream colored sweater dress along with boots. Now Coraline usually wasn't nervous about going to dinner with them, she had gotten over that long ago. What was making her nervous was something that had been bothering her since Daniel tried to kidnap her. Just a simple twist in words that seemed harmless at first but was building up inside and making her head spin. Coraline walked to her dressed and sprayed herself with a healthy dose of perfume before Logan knocked at the door.

"Come in!" Logan pushed the door open and stuck his head in.

"Hey princess, ready to go?" She nodded and with twitching hands she set the perfume down on the dresser. Logan raised an eyebrow watching her pace back and forth nervously before grabbing her hat and scarf. "Cori is something bothering you? You've been acting weird the last few days."

"What? No! I'm not weird." She said quickly staring at him with wide eyes. He continued to stare at her until she sighed and cracked under her brother's knowing gaze. "It's just something with Kendall, okay? Please don't make me talk about it now…"

"Okay fine, but you know you can tell me." Logan sang.

"I know Horty." She nodded and walked out of her room while ruffling his hair as she slinked past him. The two pulled on their coats, grabbed their gifts and headed over to their mom's house. After Coraline knocked on the door Joanna pulled the door open and yanked her kids inside out of the cold December air. "HI MY BABIES!" She screeched wrapping her arms around them. The chatter in the house from the boys seemed to stop when they heard the Mitchell children speak.

"Hi mom!" They both chorused. Joanna was all smiles and happiness until she heard them speak, she pulled away slowly and stared at her children with wide eyes before they settled on Coraline. "W-what did you call me?"

"I-I called you m-mom I'm sorry I can call you Joanna instead—" Coraline said nervously with fearful eyes. Joann shook her head and cut her off by wrapping her arms around her once more. "NO YOU WILL CALL ME MOM OH MY GOSH IT'S LIKE A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!" She was shouting with so much joy and excitement. Logan laughed and rolled his eyes, setting the Christmas gifts underneath the tree while Joanna swung Coraline around in a bone crushing hug. After the two pulled away Joanna kissed both of her cheeks before running off to set the table with food. Coraline shook her head and walked over to the boys to greet them and say hello. When she went to greet Kendall he took her hand and spun her around before pulling her down onto his lap.

"My my my, someone looks incredibly beautiful this Christmas Eve." He smiled kissing her on the cheek.

"Thank you Kendall." She smiled wide and blushed before staring down at her boots. Coraline glanced up at Logan who was giving her a knowing look before dragging James and Carlos to the kitchen. She fidgeted nervously and twiddled her thumbs, a habit Kendall was all too familiar with.

"What's the matter baby girl?" Kendall asked, wrapping two loving arms around her waist and setting his chin on her shoulder. Coraline chewed her lip and couldn't face him, she just continued to twiddle her thumbs.

"Well I um…this is hard." She sighed and pushed her hair behind her ear. Again, she could not look at Kendall, she was looking everywhere but him. "W-w-well Daniel said you love a psycho girl but you said you adore this…regular girl and well…" She took a deep breath and shut her eyes tightly. "I know it hasn't been long but I love you Kendall Knight and I know I'm not perfect and that I'm pretty much a crazy-pants woman but if you don't think you can ever love me because I'm so… not a normal person then it's fine I can live with that." She took a deep breath and finally glanced at Kendall. When she did, Kendall cupped her face and kissed her, much to her surprise.

"I really wish you'd stop saying you were crazy and not normal." Kendall sighed kissing her once more. "I think you're amazing, and I do adore you, but more importantly, I do love you Coraline." She froze and stared at him with her eyebrows raised, wondering how the hell was that possible and Kendall laughed at her reaction. "Well, you're incredibly sweet and quite frankly, you are absolutely adorable." He glanced at her twiddling her thumbs and staring down at them, so he gingerly lifted her chin to face him with two of his fingers. "You're very caring and considerate Coraline, you're quirky, I like that, you're beautiful and you know what else? You can cook! What's not to love about that?" She smiled a bit which made Kendall smile wider. "Now I love you Coraline, no doubt about that."

"You're not just saying that so I don't have a panic attack?"

"Nope." Kendall shook his head. "It's the cold hard truth."

"I like the truth then." She nodded quickly and smiled a bit. She stood up from his lap and kissed his cheek, dragging Kendall to the kitchen so they could eat with everybody else.

"Aw look how cute!" Carlos cooed at the two of them sitting side by side. "Holidays bring a lot of love don't they?"

"You sure are sappy for someone without a girlfriend." James commented. Carlos narrowed his eyes and glared at him.

"You're a dick."

"Hey, don't be mad I have this big fa—" Joanna cleared her throat with her arms across her chest and Logan was glaring at James to make him stop talking. "Big….fat….piece of cake waiting for me later!"

"Nice save." Logan muttered. The six of them ate their meal in peace, well with as much peace as one could have around those interesting four young men. After dinner they went over to the Christmas tree to open the gifts they exchanged for one another. As Coraline sat on the sofa between Kendall and Logan, with Logan sitting on the arm rest, James stood up, swiped something off of the fireplace and quickly dangled it over Coraline and Kendall.

"Oh look at that, mistletoe!" He grinned. Logan shook his head, "Well, I don't need saliva on me for this one." He joked inching away on the couch. Coraline looked up at Kendall who wiggled his eyebrows. "Well, you do know what that means don't you?" She nodded quickly, chewing her lip to suppress the wide smile about to form." Good!" He leaned down and kissed her, which Joanna took a million and one pictures of because she thought it was so precious.

Coraline Mitchell had come a long way. From arriving at the airport as this lanky, unknown individual who looked like she could snap in half, to this healthy, extremely loved young woman with an amazingly sweet and caring boyfriend. An older brother who would give her the world and protect her always, a mother who was overly-sweet, but there was nothing wrong with that. A girlfriend who would take her out to do girl stuff with a gossip about the boys. Plus, two non-related older brothers who were goofballs and always the source of entertainment. The holidays were a source of love, and this holiday season she was finally able to experience just that.


	25. Epilogue

**(I have to say, I didn't think this story would last as long as it did, with as many good reviews as it has gotten! Thank you so much, an hope I don't disappoint with this conclusion. Honestly the feedback means a lot to me, and I'm glad to see people have enjoyed the story.)**

_**Epilogue- One Year Later**_

Coraline yawned loudly as she draped her chef's coat on the rack and sauntered over to get her jacket to combat the fall air. Today at work, Stacy did not have the same shift as her for the first time in a long time, so it was safe to say Coraline was a bit bored. After pulling on her coat and unleashing her hair from its tight bun, she stepped out into the back alley of the restaurant and was surprised to see a picture of her and Kendall taped on the brick wall across from the side exit. Curiously, she stepped forward and took the picture down, it was the two of them at the aquarium they had gotten kid out of. Kendall had snapped the picture with his phone without Coraline even noticing. She turned the picture over and read the message on the side.

_Head to the end of the alley, beautiful._

So she walked to the end of the alley, and taped to a street light was a picture of the two of them at the firehouse. Again she turned the picture over to see if there was a message.

_Now walk home, my lovely Coraline._

So that she did, holding the pictures in hand she began her walk home that night. Every few street lights she would see a new picture of them. One was a picture of the two of them at the Christmas ball, standing by an incredibly large and decorated Christmas tree.

_You always look so beautiful._

The next, a photo of them along with Logan, Stacy, James, and Carlos.

_I don't think anyone can love you as much as we do._

Coraline continued her walk to the house she shared with Logan, and another picture caught her gaze. It was a picture of the two of them at her surprise birthday party. Kendall was standing behind her covering her eyes and she was twiddling her thumbs nervously, absolutely clueless to the surprise that waited for her.

_I love surprising you because…_

Intrigued on what the message was supposed to say, she ran down the block to grab the next picture. The next picture was taken seconds after the one before. It seemed as though her eyes were sparkling, she had such a huge smile on her face as she glanced up at Kendall who smiled just as wide down at her.

…_because I love the way your eyes sparkle with delight._

Coraline smiled and stood there for a few moments just assessing the pictures, she arrived at the house and saw that none of the lights were on. She glanced at the last picture at the door and yanked it down. A photo of just her in the kitchen in her pajamas putting cake batter on Logan's nose.

_You're always so beautiful, so fun, and I absolutely adore everything about you._

Incredibly nervous, she twiddled her thumbs before shoving her key into the door. As soon as she did so lights flicked on and she felt so nervous she almost didn't want to open the door. Coraline considered stepping back and leaving, but the sounds of a guitar inside kept her intrigued. She turned the key and cautiously pushed the door open. She stuck her head inside to see Kendall standing at the far end of the living room playing his guitar and smiling at her.

"_Got a heart of gold, a perfect original  
Wish you would stop being so hard on yourself for a while  
And when I see that face  
I'd try a thousand ways  
I would do anything to make you smile"_

Coraline felt herself becoming incredibly anxious as she stared around the room. On the sides of the room was Logan, James, Carlos, and Stacy, on another side was Katie, Jennifer, and Joanna. Down the middle of the living room the furniture was pushed to the side leaving a trail of rose petals leading to Kendall. She glanced at her brother who urged her to walk towards him. Coraline took a deep breath and walked closer to Kendall, and when she was right in front of him the singing came to an end and he rested the guitar against the wall.

"W-what is all this?" She asked nervously, chewing her lip and cracking her fingers. Kendall smiled wide and took the pictures that were sticking out of her jacket pocket.

"Well these, my beautiful girl, are some of my favorite memories." He smiled and kissed her forehead which made her blush and look at her shoes. Kendall set the photos down on the floor and stood back up, holding her hands and looking down at her. "I'd like to make more of those memories."

"Umm…okay." She nodded slowly. Kendall winked at her which left her confused. He dropped to one knee and her jaw clenched as she stared at him.

"I'd like to make many, many more memories with you. Coraline Mitchell, I've never met a girl quite like you. I've never met a girl quite so quirky and sweet. With a heart of gold, a genuine personality, and absolutely adorable. I love you, for all your perfections, for all your flaws, there's nothing I would change about you, because then you wouldn't be my amazing girlfriend. But I don't want you to be my amazing girlfriend, I want you to be my amazing wife." Kendall reached into the breast pocket of his plaid shirt and pulled out a small black velvet box. He flicked it open to reveal a simple silver band with an amazing princess cut diamond in the center. "Coraline Mitchell, will you marry me?"

Coraline just couldn't speak.

Her chest was heaving and her mouth was open wide as though she was ready to speak but nothing came out. So she nodded vigorously and Kendall grinned sliding the ring on her finger. She pulled him to his feet and as soon as he was up he cupped her face and kissed her. When she pulled away and turned around Logan walked over and kissed her cheek. When he pulled away he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?"

"I never thought … as a child or early in my 20's that I could feel so loved and cared for, but now I know how it feels and…" She sniffled and couldn't speak. She just shook her head and hugged her brother tightly before grabbing Kendall and forcing him into a hug.


End file.
